Microbiotherapy: towards standardization of fecal microbiota transplants

In an article published in Scientific Reports, researchers from MetaGenoPolis and Micalis (INRAE, UPSaclay, Jouy-en-Josas), propose a comparative evaluation of the performance of two new cryoprotectants (a product that protects living cells from very low temperatures) for frozen human fecal transplants in germ-free mice.
High resolution shotgun metagenomic sequencing was used to evaluate the effect of these new cryoprotectants and storage time on graft kinetics and efficiency. The main results show that these cryoprotectants allow to obtain taxonomic profiles closest to the reference. In particular, they favor the survival and implantation of bacterial species important for health, as well as the non-proliferation of undesirable species. The results also draw attention to the need to continue efforts to further improve the survival of very sensitive species belonging to the Lachnospiraceae and Ruminoccocaceae families, whose full survival is to be sought to ensure the full success of a fecal transplant.
The SAMBO platform of MGP, a BRC of the microbial pillar of RARe, is involved in this study for the conservation and automatic extraction of DNA from fecal samples or preparations inoculated to animals.

• Contact : magali.berland(at)inrae.fr