{
  "abstract": "The present study investigated the vaginal microbiota of dairy cows throughout the estrous cycle and early gestation, under natural physiological conditions and without hormonal manipulation. Vaginal swabs were collected at estrus (D0), metestrus (D3), diestrus (D15), and Day 19 post-insemination (representing proestrus for non-pregnant cows or early gestation for pregnant cows). Pregnancy diagnosis was performed on day 31 post-insemination. Microbial characterization was performed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing, followed by analyses of alpha- and beta-diversity, community composition, and differential abundance. Overall, the vaginal microbiota exhibited high inter-individual variability and only subtle shifts across reproductive phases. Beta diversity analysis revealed modest but significant compositional rearrangements between estrus vs. proestrus (strictly within the non-pregnant cohort) and estrus vs. diestrus. Differential abundance testing identified two taxa enriched during pregnancy (Muribaculum and Hoministercoradaptatus), indicating potential microbial biomarkers associated with the gestational environment. These findings demonstrate that, in naturally cycling cows, physiological hormonal oscillations induce only mild microbial changes, whereas individual factors appear to play a dominant role in shaping the vaginal community. The work contributes to defining baseline microbial patterns in non-manipulated animals and highlights the importance of distinguishing natural variation from hormonally induced effects in reproductive microbiome research.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "National Institute of Science and Technology for Dairy Production Chain (INCT–LEITE), Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil",
    "Laboratório de Biotecnologia da Reprodução Animal (REPROA), Departamento de Clínicas Veterinárias (DCV), Centro de Ciências Agrárias (CCA), Universidade Estadual de Londrina (UEL), Londrina, Paraná, Brazil",
    "Département de biomédecine vétérinaire, Faculté de médecine vétérinaire (FMV), Université de Montréal, Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec, Canada"
  ],
  "article_type": "Research Article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 9,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Anne Kemmer Souza"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Adèle Giroux"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Amanda Fonseca Zangirolamo"
    },
    {
      "name": "Ricardo Guella Droher"
    },
    {
      "name": "Francieli Gesleine Capote Bonato"
    },
    {
      "name": "Amauri Alfieri"
    },
    {
      "name": "Gustavo Zamberlam"
    },
    {
      "name": "Marcelo Marcondes Seneda"
    },
    {
      "name": "Márcio Costa"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6ftr8rc95yhfd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1371/journal.pone.0359551",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6ftr8rc95yhfd",
  "issns": [
    "1932-6203"
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  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0359551",
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  "licence": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY 4.0",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1102|Reproductive Physiology in Livestock"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Developmental biology/Fertilization/Insemination"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Ecology/Ecosystems/Microbial ecosystems"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Genetics/Genomics/Microbial genomics/Microbiome"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Medical microbiology/Microbiome"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Microbial genomics/Microbiome"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Microbiology/Microbial physiology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Bacteria"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Organisms/Bacteria/Gut bacteria"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Physiological processes/Estrous cycle"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Biology and life sciences/Physiology/Reproductive physiology"
    ],
    [
      "plos",
      "/Ecology and environmental sciences/Ecology/Ecosystems/Microbial ecosystems"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220389084",
  "pdf_url": "https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0359551&type=printable",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-05",
  "publisher": "Public Library of Science",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6ftr8rc95yhfd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:17:37Z",
      "native_id": "10.1371/journal.pone.0359551",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0359551"
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:ecology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
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    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "plos:microbiology",
      "subfield": "microbiology"
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    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "plos:physiology",
      "subfield": "physiology"
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  ],
  "title": "The impact of the estrous cycle on the vaginal microbiota of dairy cows",
  "title_text": "The impact of the estrous cycle on the vaginal microbiota of dairy cows",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:17:37Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6ftr8rc95yhfd",
  "venue": "PLOS One",
  "versions": []
}