Vagino-uterine microbiota in pregnant and non-pregnant beef cattle
Vaginal and uterine swab samples were collected from two cohorts of Angus-crossbred cattle: mature cows (N=100) and heifers (N = 72, vaginal swab only) at the time of artificial insemination (AI). At 35 days post-AI, pregnancy diagnoses were made via ultrasound. A subset of vaginal uterine swabs from (27 open and 31 pregnant) cows and heifers (26 open and 33 pregnant) were selected and processed for microbiota assessment using 16S rRNA gene (V3-V4) sequencing.