Abstract 3266: Measurement and comparison of the gut microbial communities in fecal, rectal swab, and mucosal samples
Authors: Jones Roshonda B , Zhu Xiangzhu , Moan Emili , Murff Harvey J. , Dai Qi , Shrubsole Martha J. , Fodor Anthony A. , Azcarate-Peril M. Andrea , Ness Reid M. , Seidner Douglas L. 
Published: August 2018

Background: Studies evaluating the gut microbiome frequently use stool. However, stool, which is predominantly composed of luminal bacteria, may not adequately reflect mucosally adherent bacteria. The purpose of this study is to evaluate similarities and differences in gut bacterial measurements and stability in the microbial communities of three different types of samples that could be used to assess different niches of the gut microbiome: rectal swab, stool, and normal rectal mucosa samples.

Design: Sixty-eight participants were selected from a personalized chemoprevention trial population of individuals with previous colorectal adenomas who had donated stool, swab, and mucosal samples at baseline and three months later. 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing was conducted for 60 participants at two time points (n=120 stool and 120 swab). Whole-genome shotgun metagenomics DNA sequencing was conducted for 50 participants at two time points (n=100 stool, 28 swab, and 16 mucosal).

Results: In swab-stool comparisons, there were substantial taxa differences with some taxa varying largely by sample type (e.g., Thermaceae) while other taxa were predominantly associated with interindividual subject variation (e.g., Desulfovibrionaceae) or by both sample type and participant (e.g., Enterobacteriaceae). At species-level resolution (with WGS sequences) we observed that bacteria associated with colorectal tumors (Escherichia coli and Fusobacterium nucleatum) were of higher relative abundance in swab than stool. There were also statistically significant differences in other bacteria according to the sample type (e.g., Bifidobacterium longum, Bacteroides fragilis). Comparing all three sample types with whole-genome metagenome shotgun sequencing, swab samples were much closer to stool samples than mucosa samples, although all KEGG functional Level 1 and Level 2 pathways were significantly different across all sample types (e.g., transcription and environmental adaptation). However, the individual signature of participants was also observed and was largely stable between two time points. Thus, we found that while the distribution of some taxa was associated with these different sampling techniques, other taxa largely reflected individual differences in the microbial community that were insensitive to sampling technique.

Conclusion: There is substantial variability in the assessment of the gut microbial community according to the type of sample.

Citation Format: Roshonda B Jones, Xiangzhu Zhu, Emili Moan, Harvey J. Murff, Qi Dai, Martha J. Shrubsole, Anthony A. Fodor, M. Andrea Azcarate-Peril, Reid M. Ness, Douglas L. Seidner. Measurement and comparison of the gut microbial communities in fecal, rectal swab, and mucosal samples [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2018; 2018 Apr 14-18; Chicago, IL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2018;78(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3266.