Effects of Specimen Collection Methodologies and Storage Conditions on the Short-Term Stability of Oral Microbiome Taxonomy

Participants preferred the Omnigene and Zymo oral swabs for comfort and ease of use, whilst the Omnigene device yielded the highest median bacterial DNA concentration compared to the other devices. The results indicate that the choice of self-collection device impacts both patient acceptability and DNA yield for oral microbiome analysis.

Comparison of self-collected oral swabs for supragingival microbiome characterization using 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing — Rooney et al., Journal of microbiological methods (paywalled) · source ↗

• acceptability
• stabilised
• self-collection
• microbiome
• saliva

Saliva samples collected using the OMNIgene ORAL device and oral wash samples remain stable for microbiome diversity and relative abundance analyses for up to five years when stored at -80°C. This supports the use of these self-collection methods for long-term prospective biobanking and decentralised clinical studies.

Long-term stability at -80°C of oral wash and saliva samples for microbiome analyses — Slack et al., Microbiology spectrum (paywalled) · source ↗

• stabilised
• dna-genotek-omnigene
• self-collection
• microbiome
• liquid
• validation
• saliva

An analysis of 88 individuals aged 7 to 18 years found that stimulated saliva collection detected disease-associated microbiome taxa that unstimulated sampling missed. The authors note that sampling protocols must be standardised before results can be compared across decentralised studies.

Saliva sampling method influences oral microbiome composition and taxa associated with oral diseases — Roca et al., PLoS ONE · source ↗

• microbiome
• pediatric
• liquid
• validation
• saliva

In children, stool preserved in OMNIgene-GUT kept its microbial community structure better than unpreserved stool, with alpha and beta diversity similar to direct freezing, which supports the kit for decentralised stool collection from children.

Omnigene-Gut^tm ensures fecal microbiome stability in the pediatric population — Hoogendijk et al., AMB Express · source ↗

• dct
• stabilised
• dna-genotek-omnigene
• microbiome
• pediatric
• stool
• validation

In a cross-sectional study of 90 adolescents, 94 per cent provided at least one salivary sample and 89 per cent supplied a stool sample, with high adherence to study instructions, indicating that self-collection of these biospecimens is feasible and acceptable in this age group.

Engaging adolescents in research: Home self-collection of biological samples and health questionnaires — Leung et al., Research in nursing & health (paywalled) · source ↗

• acceptability
• self-collection
• microbiome
• pediatric
• stool
• saliva