Comparison of Fecal Collection Methods on Variation in Gut Metagenomics and Untargeted Metabolomics
Huihui Guan, Yanni Pu, Chenglin Liu, Tao Lou, Shishang Tan, Mengmeng Kong, Zhonghan Sun, Zhendong Mei, Qibin Qi, Zhe‐Xue Quan, Guoping Zhao, Yan Zheng
Abstract
The choice of fecal collection method is essential for studying gut microbe-human interactions in large-scale population-based research. In this study, we examined the effects of fecal collection methods and storage time at ambient temperature on variations in the gut microbiome community composition; microbial diversity metrics at the species, gene, and pathway levels; antibiotic resistance genes; and metabolome profiling. Our findings suggest using different fecal sample collection methods for different data generation purposes. OMNIgene Gut, FOBT cards, RNAlater, and Microlution, but not 95% ethanol, were reliable collection methods for gut metagenomic studies. However, 95% ethanol was the best for preserving fecal metabolite profiles.