Bornbusch Sally L, Dami Katherine A
Center for Conservation Genomics, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institution, Washington, D.C.
Department of Nutrition Science, Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institution, Washington, D.C.
F S Rep. 2025 Apr 15;6(Suppl 1):45-49. doi: 10.1016/j.xfre.2025.01.011. eCollection 2025 Apr.
In all vertebrates, reproduction occurs in the context of host-associated microbiomes, which are increasingly recognized for their contributions to reproductive success. Although host-associated microbiomes are species specific, synthesizing patterns in microbial ecology across human and animal taxa provides perspectives for understanding the factors that shape microbial communities and their contributions to reproduction. Additionally, the fertility and reproductive physiology of animals under human care-particularly endangered species-is often meticulously monitored to maximize reproductive opportunities. In this mini-review, we examine current knowledge on reproductive microbiomes in animals, focusing, when available, on the sparse literature for wildlife species. We suggest ways in which studying animal microbial ecology may advance human fertility and reproduction by focusing on 3 microbial communities-vaginal, milk, and seminal microbiomes-which represent a large portion of literature and have clear implications for reproductive health. We identify avenues of future research that will further strengthen the linkages between reproductive research in wildlife species and humans and provide potential guidelines for practical applications of microbiome science to human reproductive health.
在所有脊椎动物中，繁殖都发生在与宿主相关的微生物群落环境中，这些微生物群落对繁殖成功的贡献日益得到认可。尽管与宿主相关的微生物群落具有物种特异性，但综合人类和动物分类群的微生物生态学模式，为理解塑造微生物群落的因素及其对繁殖的贡献提供了视角。此外，人工饲养动物（尤其是濒危物种）的生育能力和生殖生理学通常会受到精心监测，以最大限度地增加繁殖机会。在这篇小型综述中，我们研究了关于动物生殖微生物群落的现有知识，如有可用信息，则重点关注野生动物物种的稀少文献。我们提出，通过关注3种微生物群落——阴道、乳汁和精液微生物群落，研究动物微生物生态学可能会促进人类的生育能力和生殖，这3种微生物群落占文献的很大一部分，并且对生殖健康有明确影响。我们确定了未来的研究途径，这些途径将进一步加强野生动物物种和人类生殖研究之间的联系，并为微生物组科学在人类生殖健康中的实际应用提供潜在指导方针。
