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. 2017 Nov 21;13(1):344.
doi: 10.1186/s12917-017-1231-0.

Isolation and identification of culturable fungi from the genitals and semen of healthy giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Xiaoping Ma  1   2 , Changcheng Li  2 , Jiafa Hou  3 , Yu Gu  4
Affiliations

Isolation and identification of culturable fungi from the genitals and semen of healthy giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca)

Xiaoping Ma et al. BMC Vet Res. .

Abstract

Background: In order to better understand the possible role of fungi in giant panda reproduction and overall health, it is important to provide a baseline for the normal fungal composition in the reproductive system. Using morphology and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequence analysis, we systematically isolated and identified fungal species from the vagina, foreskin, and semen of 21 (11 males and 10 females) healthy giant pandas to understand the normal fungal flora of the genital tracts.

Results: A total of 76 fungal strains were obtained, representing 42 genera and 60 species. Among them 47 fungal strains were obtained from vaginal samples, 24 from foreskins, and 5 from semen samples. Several fungal strains were isolated from more than one sample. More fungal species were isolated from females from males. The predominant genera were Aspergillus, Trichosporon, and Penicillium, followed by Candida, Cladosporium, Sordariomycetes, and Diaporthe. The average number of strains in the female vagina was significantly higher than in the foreskin and semen of male.

Conclusions: A total of 60 fungal species (belonging to 42 genera) were identified in the giant panda's genital tract. Some of the species were commonly shared in both males and females. These findings provide novel information on the fungal community in the reproductive tracts of giant pandas.

Keywords: Culturable fungi; Foreskin; Giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca); Semen; Vagina.

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Conflict of interest statement

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All animal experiments were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Sichuan Agricultural University (permit number DYY-S20122106). Permissions were obtained from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding prior to sample collection from the pandas.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Neighbor-joining phylogenic tree of 76 strains isolated from each sample. Solid circles (●) indicate strains isolated from vaginas; hollow triangles (∆) indicate strains isolated from foreskins; solid triangles (▲) indicate strains isolated from semen; hollow squares (□) indicate reference sequences from GenBank
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Prevalence of mycetes and yeasts isolated from different types of samples
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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