Fecal Swab Collection and Preservation System (Bulk Format)

Product Description

• No need to immediately process samples
• DNA Preservation at room temperature over 2 years
• RNA Preservation at room temperature up to 7 days
• Ship stool samples at room temperature safely
• Compatible with most DNA/RNA isolation methods
• Optimized isolation procedure using Norgen's Microbiome DNA Isolation Kit

Norgen’s Fecal Swab Collection and Preservation System is designed for collection, ambient storage and transport of nucleic acids from stool specimens. The Fecal Swab Collection and Preservation System tubes contain Norgen’s Stool Preservative in a liquid format. The user simply collects the specimen using the provided swab, and then transfers the swab into the Stool Preservative.

The Stool Preservative prevents the growth of Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, and also inactivates viruses allowing the resulting non-infectious samples to be handled and shipped safely. In addition, the Stool Preservative eliminates the need to immediately process or freeze samples and allows the samples to be shipped to centralized testing facilities at ambient temperatures.

The components of the Stool Preservative allow samples to be stored at room temperature for over 2 years for DNA and 7 days for RNA. To extend the stool RNA stability in the preservative, storage at -20°C or -70°C is recommended upon arrival at the testing facilities until RNA purification.

Product Data

Figure 1. Integrity of Stool DNA and RNA Isolated from Preserved Stool Samples. DNA and RNA were isolated from 200 µL of preserved stool stored at room temperature at the indicated time points using Norgen's Fecal Swab Collection and Preservation System (Cat# 45670-NB). Next, 10 µl from the 75 µl eluted nucleic acid was loaded onto a gel for visual analysis. High integrity stool DNA was isolated from preserved stool samples that were stored at room temperature for 27 months, and high integrity RNA was isolated from stool samples stored for 7 days at ambient temperature. Lane M is Norgen's HighRanger 1 kb DNA Ladder (Cat. 11900-NB).

Figure 2. Monitoring the DNA stability of Adenovirus (Ad5subE1) Spiked into Preserved Stool Samples using TaqMan Real-Time PCR Assay. Preserved stool samples were spiked with 6 x 10⁹ pf/mL of Adenovirus, and 200 µL samples were removed at the indicated time points. The stool DNA was then isolated using Norgen's Stool DNA Isolation Kit (Cat# 27600-NB). Next, 2 µL of DNA template from each 50 µL of elution was used in a 20 µL PCR reaction to detect the Adenovirus DNA. The stool preservative was shown to stabilize Adenovirus DNA up to 21 weeks at ambient temperature, indicating that Norgen's Fecal Swab Collection and Preservation System provides a safe and convenient sample transportation system.

Figure 3. Hierarchical Clustering of Stool Samples at Phylum Level Under Different Storage Conditions. The microbial composition from the stool samples preserved in Norgen's Stool Nucleic Acid Preservative did not differ significantly to that of controls (fresh stool from Day 0 at RT) over a 2 day period while non-preserved stool samples showed a greater difference in the dendrogram from the original stool profile.

Figure 4.Difference In Top 5 Abundant Microorganisms at Phylum Level Compared to Fresh Stool (Day 0). Abundance of Firmicuties, Bacteroidetes and proteobacteria from the preserved stool sample was higher than non-preserved (NP) to the fresh stool after 2 days storage at RT, indicating that the originality of microorganism profile from the preserved are much closer to the fresh stool sample (Day 0).

Figure 5. Relative Abundance of Bacterial Genera Between Preserved and Non-preserved Stool Sample Stored at RT For 2 Days. Preserved stool sample using Norgen's Stool Nucleic Acid Preservative showed a closed relativeness to the fresh stool sample (Day 0) compared to the non-preserved sample.

Figure 6. Correlation between duplicate bacterial metagenomic reads using (A) Fresh stool (day 0) and preserved stool at RT for 2 days and (B) Fresh stool (day 0) and non-preserved stool at RT for 2 days. A greater R2 was observed for Fresh stool (day 0) and preserved stool, suggestive of higher consistency between fresh stool sample and preserved stool sample.