Is fecal matter an appropriate proxy for the intestinal tract in studies of the gut microbiome?

Document Type

Oral Presentation

Campus where you would like to present

Ellensburg

Event Website

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source

Start Date

15-5-2019

End Date

15-5-2019

Abstract

As many health phenomena seem to be affected directly and indirectly by the microbiome, gut microbiome research has increased in the last decade. Issues like allergies, cancer, obesity, and other health phenomena have been researched and found to be influenced by the microbiome. Most of gut microbiome research is done by collecting and sequencing the DNA of the microbiome of the fecal matter from model organisms or human subjects. Studies that use this method of sample collection and analysis assume that fecal matter microbiomes are identical to intestinal microbiomes. No published studies exist which compare stool microbial composition and intestinal microbial composition. Fecal matter bacterial composition and intestinal bacterial composition was assessed by extracting and sequencing DNA from stool and intestine (ileum cecum, and colon) of 4 C57BL/6 wild-type male mice. Microbial community comparison showed no significant difference between the species evenness and microbial diversity of all three sections of the gut and stool. Species composition does vary between sample sites. Although more data is required, the preliminary results support the assumption that stool microbial composition is a proxy for intestinal microbial composition, at least in terms of species evenness and diversity.

Faculty Mentor(s)

Holly Pinkart

Department/Program

Biological Sciences

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May 15th, 2:00 PM May 15th, 3:30 PM

Is fecal matter an appropriate proxy for the intestinal tract in studies of the gut microbiome?

Ellensburg

As many health phenomena seem to be affected directly and indirectly by the microbiome, gut microbiome research has increased in the last decade. Issues like allergies, cancer, obesity, and other health phenomena have been researched and found to be influenced by the microbiome. Most of gut microbiome research is done by collecting and sequencing the DNA of the microbiome of the fecal matter from model organisms or human subjects. Studies that use this method of sample collection and analysis assume that fecal matter microbiomes are identical to intestinal microbiomes. No published studies exist which compare stool microbial composition and intestinal microbial composition. Fecal matter bacterial composition and intestinal bacterial composition was assessed by extracting and sequencing DNA from stool and intestine (ileum cecum, and colon) of 4 C57BL/6 wild-type male mice. Microbial community comparison showed no significant difference between the species evenness and microbial diversity of all three sections of the gut and stool. Species composition does vary between sample sites. Although more data is required, the preliminary results support the assumption that stool microbial composition is a proxy for intestinal microbial composition, at least in terms of species evenness and diversity.

https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/source/2019/Oralpres/45