AUTHOR=Fu Longlong , Lou Yuanlei , Guo Ying , Zhou Fang , Ma Jing , Wang Shusong , Gu Yiqun , Fu Bin , Lu Wenhong 

TITLE=Seminal plasma microbiomes, sperm parameters, and cryopreservation in a healthy fertile population

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=15

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2024.1401326

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2024.1401326

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Background</title><p>Recent advances in microbiome research have revealed the presence of diverse microbial communities in human tissues previously thought to be sterile. The present study delves into the emerging field of seminal plasma microbiomics, examining the relationship between semen microbes and semen parameters and post-freezing tolerance.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Methods</title><p>The study involved a cohort of healthy fertility males and microbial genome analysis using 16S rRNA to characterize the microbial diversity of seminal plasma. Microbial diversity analysis identified unique amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) and genera dominant in seminal plasma. Spearman’s correlation coefficient was used to assess the relationship between flora and semen parameters. A paired t-test was used to compare the changes in microbiome expression in seminal plasma before and after cryo-resuscitation.</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Results</title><p>The relevant results show that the top five phyla in terms of abundance of seminal plasma microbiome were <italic>Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria, Actinobacteriota</italic>, and <italic>Campylobacterota</italic>. Spearman correlation analysis highlighted the association between specific microbial species and semen parameters, between <italic>Porphyromonas_asaccharolytica</italic> and sperm concentration. Microbial changed significantly after cryo-resuscitation, affecting taxonomic units such as <italic>Campylobacter</italic> and <italic>Muribaculaceae</italic>, and KEGG enrichment analyses, suggesting that metabolic pathways are associated with sperm freezing. <italic>Eubacterium_coprostanoligenes</italic> and <italic>Eptoniphilus_duerdenii</italic> exhibited a potential impact, while <italic>Orynebacterium_tuberculostearicum</italic> demonstrated a positive correlation with the recovery rate of progressive motile sperm.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Conclusion</title><p>The semen of normal fertile individuals contains a microflora component that is closely related to semen quality, including the sperm’s ability to withstand freezing.</p></sec>