TY - JOUR
T1 - Collecting fecal samples for microbiome analyses in epidemiology studies
AU - Sinha, Rashmi
AU - Chen, Jun
AU - Amir, Amnon
AU - Vogtmann, Emily
AU - Shi, Jianxin
AU - Inman, Kristin S.
AU - Flores, Roberto
AU - Sampson, Joshua
AU - Knight, Rob
AU - Chia, Nicholas
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Association for Cancer Research.
PY - 2016/2
Y1 - 2016/2
N2 - Background: The need to develop valid methods for sampling and analyzing fecal specimens for microbiome studies is increasingly important, especially for large population studies. Methods: Some of the most important attributes of any sampling method are reproducibility, stability, and accuracy. We compared seven fecal sampling methods [no additive, RNAlater, 70% ethanol, EDTA, dry swab, and pre/post development fecal occult blood test (FOBT)] using 16S rRNA microbiome profiling in two laboratories. We evaluated nine commonly used microbiome metrics: abundance of three phyla, two alpha-diversities, and four beta-diversities. We determined the technical reproducibility, stability at ambient temperature, and accuracy. Results: Although microbiome profiles showed systematic biases according to sample method and time at ambient temperature, the highest source of variation was between individuals. All collection methods showed high reproducibility. FOBT and RNAlater resulted in the highest stability without freezing for 4 days. In comparison with no-additive samples, swab, FOBT, and 70% ethanol exhibited the greatest accuracy when immediately frozen. Conclusions: Overall, optimal stability and reproducibility were achieved using FOBT, making this a reasonable sample collection method for 16S analysis. Impact: Having standardized method of collecting and storing stable fecal samples will allow future investigations into the role of gut microbiota in chronic disease etiology in large population studies.
AB - Background: The need to develop valid methods for sampling and analyzing fecal specimens for microbiome studies is increasingly important, especially for large population studies. Methods: Some of the most important attributes of any sampling method are reproducibility, stability, and accuracy. We compared seven fecal sampling methods [no additive, RNAlater, 70% ethanol, EDTA, dry swab, and pre/post development fecal occult blood test (FOBT)] using 16S rRNA microbiome profiling in two laboratories. We evaluated nine commonly used microbiome metrics: abundance of three phyla, two alpha-diversities, and four beta-diversities. We determined the technical reproducibility, stability at ambient temperature, and accuracy. Results: Although microbiome profiles showed systematic biases according to sample method and time at ambient temperature, the highest source of variation was between individuals. All collection methods showed high reproducibility. FOBT and RNAlater resulted in the highest stability without freezing for 4 days. In comparison with no-additive samples, swab, FOBT, and 70% ethanol exhibited the greatest accuracy when immediately frozen. Conclusions: Overall, optimal stability and reproducibility were achieved using FOBT, making this a reasonable sample collection method for 16S analysis. Impact: Having standardized method of collecting and storing stable fecal samples will allow future investigations into the role of gut microbiota in chronic disease etiology in large population studies.
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U2 - 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0951
DO - 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-15-0951
M3 - Article
C2 - 26604270
AN - SCOPUS:84957831145
SN - 1055-9965
VL - 25
SP - 407
EP - 416
JO - Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention
JF - Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention
IS - 2
ER -