title: Effect of short-term room temperature storage on the microbial community in infant fecal samples.
abstract: Sample storage conditions are important for unbiased analysis of microbial communities in metagenomic studies. Specifically, for infant gut microbiota studies, stool specimens are often exposed to room temperature (RT) conditions prior to analysis. This could lead to variations in structural and quantitative assessment of bacterial communities. To estimate such effects of RT storage, we collected feces from 29 healthy infants (0-3 months) and partitioned each sample into 5 portions to be stored for different lengths of time at RT before freezing at -80 °C. Alpha diversity did not differ between samples with storage time from 0 to 2 hours. The UniFrac distances and microbial composition analysis showed significant differences by testing among individuals, but not by testing between different time points at RT. Changes in the relative abundance of some specific (less common, minor) taxa were still found during storage at room temperature. Our results support previous studies in children and adults, and provided useful information for accurate characterization of infant gut microbiomes. In particular, our study furnished a solid foundation and justification for using fecal samples exposed to RT for less than 2 hours for comparative analyses between various medical conditions.
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Sheng-Hui
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Ya-Shu
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kuang
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Rong
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Jin-Hua
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Bei-Jun
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Feng-Ju
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Center of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropic Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Yao-Zhong
authors.initials: YZ
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Basic Medical Science, School of Medicine, University of Missouri - Kansas City, 2411 Holmes St., Kansas City, MO 64108, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Papasian
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Neonatal Surgery, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Hui-Min
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Center of Bioinformatics and Genomics, Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Tulane School of Public Health and Tropic Medicine, USA.
authors.forename: Hong-Wen
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Division of Birth Cohort Study, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.|Department of Women and Children's Health, Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou 510623, China.
authors.forename: Xiu
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qiu
mesh_terms: D005243:Feces / Q000382:microbiology*; D000069196:Gastrointestinal Microbiome; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D013048:Specimen Handling / Q000379:methods*; D013696:Temperature