Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Fecal Sample Collection Methods And Time Of Day Impact Microbiome Composition And Short Chain Fatty Acid Concentrations, Jacquelyn Jones, Stacey N. Reinke, Alishum Ali, Debra J. Palmer, Claus T. Christophersen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Associations between the human gut microbiome and health outcomes continues to be of great interest, although fecal sample collection methods which impact microbiome studies are sometimes neglected. Here, we expand on previous work in sample optimization, to promote high quality microbiome data. To compare fecal sample collection methods, amplicons from the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V4) and fungal (ITS2) region, as well as short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations were determined in fecal material over three timepoints. We demonstrated that spot sampling of stool results in variable detection of some microbial members, and inconsistent levels of SCFA; therefore, sample homogenization …