Clonal diversity of Ureaplasma species and its relationship with oligozoospermia and semen quality in Chinese infertile males

AbstractWhetherUreaplasma spp. are a causative agent of male infertility remains controversial. Previous studies concerningUreaplasma spp. and male infertility have been confined to the species level ofUreaplasma. Currently, an expanded multilocus sequence typing (eMLST) scheme has been established with high discriminatory power. The aim of this study was to use eMLST to explore the distribution ofUreaplasma spp. and to analyze its role in oligozoospermia and semen quality. A total of 480 semen samples were obtained from Chinese infertile males. The associations betweenUreaplasma spp. with oligozoospermia and semen characteristics were further evaluated. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 102Ureaplasma spp. could be separated into two clusters and seven sub-groups. Within cluster I (U. parvum), eST16 and eST41 were the most frequent clones. For cluster II (U. urealyticum), eST82 and eST147 were the most prevalent clones. Sub-groups A and C belonging to cluster I and sub-group 1 belonging to cluster II showed an association with oligozoospermia, in contrast with theUreaplasma spp. negative group (P <  0.05). Compared with the negative group, semen motility decreased in sub-group 2, especially for non-progressive motility (P <  0.05). These results indicated that sub-groups A and C belonging to cluster I (U. parvum) and sub-group 1 belonging to cluster II (U. urealyticum) were shown to be associated with oligozoospermia. Sub-group 2 belonging to cluster II may have...
Source: European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases - Category: Microbiology Source Type: research