Tainted science? Microbiome studies may be ‘flawed’ by contamination

By Nathan Gray

- Last updated on GMT

Lab contamination may have tainted many microbiota study results, warn researchers.
Lab contamination may have tainted many microbiota study results, warn researchers.

Related tags Bacteria Researcher

Researchers may be incorrectly linking certain microbes to the microbiota and disease states because of laboratory contamination, a new study has warned.

According to the paper, published in BMC Biology​, many studies investigating the microbiome are likely to have been contaminated and may incorrectly report the presence of microorganisms unintentionally introduced from the laboratory environment

The findings could explain why unexpected bacteria have been previously identified in clinical samples and suggests that pervious research in to the microbiota could have prematurely proposed links to disease.

Led by scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, the researcher systematically shows that contaminating bacteria are easily introduced from DNA extraction kits, chemical reagents and the laboratory environment, and can affect the results of microbiome analyses.

"Recent advances in DNA sequencing technology - which allow extraordinary depth of sequencing - are being used by researchers to analyse extremely sparse microbial populations,” ​explained lead researcher Dr Alan Walker, now based at the University of Aberdeen. “What we have now shown is that these types of samples are susceptible to contaminant DNA from any source, whether it is at the time of collection, from handling samples, or during the extraction or amplification process.”

“This can critically impact study results, and we're now advising caution to researchers studying microbiota in low biomass environments."

Sequencing science

While the issue of contamination has been reported in the past, for the first time the researchers systematically assessed its impact on samples of varying biomass.

To do this, they took a pure culture of Salmonella bongori​ bacteria, and investigated the communities of bacteria which were detected following different dilutions of the culture.

Not only did they see an increase in the abundance of contaminating bacterial DNA with increasing dilutions, but at the highest dilutions, the amount of contaminating DNA even exceeded the original Salmonella​ DNA, reported the team.

The study was repeated across different laboratories, and the contaminating bacterial varieties were found to differ between locations, due to the contaminants present in different chemical reagents and the wider environment.

Biomass sample

In some cases, Walker and his colleagues found that 270 different varieties of bacteria were present in control samples, when only one variety would have been observed if there was no contamination at all.

Many of the contaminating varieties of bacteria were those normally found in soil and water, and on the human skin, said the team – who also noted a great deal of overlap between the varieties of contaminating bacteria found in their study, and those that have been reported as noteworthy in previous low biomass microbiome studies.

Indeed, the Sanger Institute team suggested that samples containing low amounts of material or 'biomass', such as those taken from the blood or lungs, are far more likely to be prone to contamination than high-biomass samples from faeces.

False diversity?

To show how contamination could have further impacts on studies, the team also investigated nasal swab samples from a Thai-Burmese refugee camp, which have previously been used to study the carriage of pneumococcal disease.

The researchers initially observed patterns of nasal microbiota variation, but later realised that these were simply due to different types of contamination from the various batches of DNA extraction kits.

Walker and colleagues said the findings serve as a reminder of the significant, and potentially misleading, impact that contaminants can have on microbiome studies and their conclusions.

To address these contamination issues, they suggested a number of steps which researchers can take when studying low biomass samples. These include using negative controls to identify varieties of bacteria that might be contaminating samples, maximizing the biomass of the starting sample through filtration or enrichment, and minimizing the risk of contamination during sample collection.

Source: BMC Biology
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1186/s12915-014-0087-z
“Reagent and laboratory contamination can critically impact sequence-based microbiome analyses”
Authors: Susannah J Salter, Michael J Cox, et al

Related news

Related products

show more

A Groundbreaking Prebiotic

A Groundbreaking Prebiotic

Content provided by ADM | 12-Mar-2024 | Infographic

PreforPro® is a clinically studied prebiotic that supports the growth of select beneficial bacteria in the gut by utilizing phage technology.

MOROSIL:INGREDIENT OF THE YEAR

MOROSIL:INGREDIENT OF THE YEAR

Content provided by BIONAP BIOACTIVE NATURAL PRODUCTS | 07-Mar-2024 | Product Brochure

MOROSIL™ has won as Ingredient of the Year in the category Weight Management at 2023 Nutraingredient USA. MOROSIL ™ is a standardized extract derived from...

In Weight Management Go Beyond with Slendacor®

In Weight Management Go Beyond with Slendacor®

Content provided by PLT Health Solutions | 22-Feb-2024 | White Paper

Slendacor® is a synergistic, patented formulation of three standardized herbal extracts: turmeric (Curcuma longa), moringa (Moringa oleifera) and curry...

Related suppliers

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars