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Rectal swabs as a viable alternative to faecal sampling for the analysis of gut microbiota functionality and composition
File(s)
Author(s)
Mullish, Benjamin
Radhakrishnan, Shiva
Gallagher, Kate
Serrano-Contreras, Jose
Alexander, James
Type
Working Paper
Abstract
Faecal or biopsy samples are frequently used to analyse the gut microbiota, but issues remain with the provision and collection of such samples. Rectal swabs are widely-utilised in clinical practice and previous data demonstrate their potential role in microbiota analyses; however, studies to date have been heterogenous, and there is a particular lack of data concerning the utility of swabs for the analysis of the microbiota’s functionality and metabolome. We compared paired stool and rectal swab samples from healthy individuals to investigate whether rectal swabs are a reliable proxy for faecal sampling. There were no significant differences in alpha and beta diversity measures between swab and faecal samples, and inter-subject variability was preserved. Additionally, no significant differences were demonstrated in abundance of major annotated phyla. Inferred gut functionality using Tax4Fun2 showed excellent correlation between the two sampling techniques (Pearson’s coefficient r = 0.9217, P  < 0.0001). Proton nuclear magnetic resonance ( 1 H NMR) spectroscopy enabled the detection of 20 metabolites with good correlation between rectal swab and faecal samples for butyrate, succinate and 5-aminovalerate relative abundances, though more variable degrees of association for other identified metabolites. These data support the utility of rectal swabs in both compositional and functional analyses of the gut microbiota.
Date Issued
2022-03-13
Citation
2022
URI
URL
DOI
Publisher
Research Square
Copyright Statement
©2022 The Author(s).
This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License.
License URL
Sponsor
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust- BRC Funding
Identifier
https://www.researchsquare.com/article/rs-1367190/v1
Grant Number
RDA27
RDA27
Publication Status
Published