Stabilized and unstabilized sampling methods result in differential fecal 16S rRNA microbial sequencing results
Stamper et al.
The finding, in our words
Taxonomic and diversity profiles differed between unstabilised swabs and stabilised OmniGene kits, with transport time disproportionately affecting swab samples; the collection method had a greater impact on taxa and diversity than transport time, highlighting the need for standardised stool collection in decentralised microbiome studies.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
This study compared four stool collection methods for infant gut microbiome analysis via post and found that the OMNIgene•GUT kit showed the closest agreement with the frozen standard compared to swabs or plain tubes. The findings suggest that stabilised collection offers a viable decentralised solution for parents to sample infant stool at home with minimal DNA degradation.
The OMNIgene•GUT kit proved reliable for stool microsampling and ambient storage, with samples stored at room temperature for seven days showing comparable bacterial DNA quantity and diversity to fresh samples; transient phylum-level differences were seen at 24 hours but not at seven days. This supports decentralised, patient-centric microbiome research by enabling home self-collection and postal transport, while emphasising that DNA extraction method has greater impact on microbiome profiles than storage conditions.
Gammaproteobacteria proliferate in stool samples shipped at room temperature, distorting microbiome profiles. A computational correction method that removes sequences from these blooming taxa enables reliable microbiome analysis from self-collected samples sent without cold chain, producing results comparable to frozen specimens.
In a community-based cohort of elderly men, remote stool self-collection using the OMNIgene·GUT kit achieved high participation and sample adequacy, with mailed samples yielding high-quality DNA for microbiome profiling; this supports decentralised, patient-centric stool sampling for large-scale research.
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.