I am to collect mice fecal samples for microbiome analysis. I've been reading some articles where each mouse was placed in a cage and allowed to defecate for a few hours since it is ideal to use fresh stools for high yields of DNA.
However, I am worried that some mouse might not defecate or the stools may not be enough. I am thinking of placing each mouse in an individual cage overnight and collect the fecal samples in the morning. Can you recommend this method? What method can you recommend to allow collection of sufficient mouse stool sample while ensuring preservation of stool microbial DNA?
Hi Dianne Faye Manabat
* Place individual mice in empty (without bedding) autoclaved cage at a time. The empty cages allow animals to defecate immediately.
* Allow the mice to defecate normally and collect the pellets immediately using a sterile toothpick in an sterile Eppendorf tube. Label the tubes and store immediately in dry ice or -80 freezer.
Thanks,
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