Comparison of DNA stabilizers and Storage conditions on Preserving Fecal Microbiota Profiles

Appropriate storage of fecal sample is a critical step for the unbiased analysis of microbial communities in metagenomic studies. Rapid freezing to -80 °C is usually considered to be the best-practice, but this approach is not yet feasible for many studies. We evaluated the efficacy of two collection kits (Stratec stool collection tube with stabilizer, #1038111200 and OMNIgene.GUT OMR-200) on preserving fecal microbial composition, compared with immediately frozen samples. Samples were collected from two locations of fecal specimen in four healthy volunteers. The samples were sub-aliquoted and stored in a -80 °C freezer, in Stratec and OMNIgene.GUT. Samples in DNA-stabilizers were frozen at -80 °C immediately, after 3-days or 7-days incubation at ambient temperature. The fecal microbial composition was assessed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing.