A study about the effect of different preservation methods on the soil microbiome

The aim of this study is to provide a method for the conservation of soil samples that guarantees the maximum preservation of the taxonomic and functional biodiversity of soil microorganisms. To this end, a metabarcoding approach was applied to both DNA and RNA extracted from soil samples after preservation under different conditions and for different durations. The same approach was also applied to DNA extracted from microorganisms isolated from soil at each time point. The study covers a wide range of microorganisms including archaea, bacteria and fungi through the use of three different couples of primers.