Temporal Variability and Stability of the Fecal Microbiome: The Multiethnic Cohort Study.
Benjamin C FuTimothy W RandolphUnhee LimKristine R MonroeIona ChengLynne R WilkensLoïc Le MarchandJohanna W LampeMeredith A J HullarPublished in: Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention : a publication of the American Association for Cancer Research, cosponsored by the American Society of Preventive Oncology (2018)
When designing large epidemiologic studies, a single sample is sufficient to capture the majority of the variation in the fecal microbiome from 16S rRNA gene sequencing, while multiple samples may be needed for rare or less-abundant taxa.