Comparison of human gut microbial profiles of matched faecal and biopsy samples from healthy individuals using culture dependent and independent methods

Faecal samples have often been used to characterise the gut microbiota in health and disease. There is significant debate whether faecal bacterial communities accurately reflect the mucosa associated bacterial populations, which are considered critical in the aetiopathogenesis of several gastrointestinal diseases. We simultaneously assessed faecal and mucosal microbiota from healthy volunteers to unravel the degree of concordance between the two profiles. Paired fresh rectal biopsies and faecal samples were obtained from ten healthy volunteers and processed under stringent anaerobic conditions. Composition and diversity of the microbiota were studied using next generation sequencing targeting the 16S ribosomal nucleic acid (rRNA) gene and culturomics.