Zymo Research's Gut Microbiome Standard is a defined microbial community designed to replicate the composition of the human gut microbiome, supporting accuracy, reproducibility, and comparability in gut microbiome workflows. With a known composition and characterised relative abundances, it provides a reliable reference for evaluating performance across DNA extraction, library preparation, sequencing, and bioinformatic analysis.
Applications in gut microbiome research
The Gut Microbiome Standard can be integrated throughout the workflow to support:
- Method evaluation and optimisation: benchmark extraction and sequencing approaches against a known community
- Quality control: monitor consistency across runs, instruments, and operators
- Bias identification: detect taxon-specific over- or under-representation introduced during processing
- Bioinformatic validation: assess the accuracy of taxonomic classification and relative abundance estimates
| Species | Theoretical composition (%) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genomic DNA | 16S only | 16S and 18S | Genome copy | Cell number | |
| Pseudomonas aeruginosa | 12 | 4.2 | 3.6 | 6.1 | 6.1 |
| Escherichia coli | 12 | 10.1 | 8.9 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| Salmonella enterica | 12 | 10.4 | 9.1 | 8.7 | 8.8 |
| Lactobacillus fermentum | 12 | 18.4 | 16.1 | 21.6 | 21.9 |
| Enterococcus faecalis | 12 | 9.9 | 8.7 | 14.6 | 14.6 |
| Staphylococcus aureus | 12 | 15.5 | 13.6 | 15.2 | 15.3 |
| Listeria monocytogenes | 12 | 14.1 | 12.4 | 13.9 | 13.9 |
| Bacillus subtilis | 12 | 17.4 | 15.3 | 10.3 | 10.3 |
| Saccharomyces cerevisiae | 2 | NA | 9.3 | 0.57 | 0.29 |
| Cryptococcus neoformans | 2 | NA | 3.3 | 0.37 | 0.18 |
Product highlights
- True-to-life composition: contains 21 distinct strains to closely reflect the human gut microbiome.
- Precisely defined: enables reliable benchmarking and validation of next-generation sequencing (NGS) microbiome workflows.
- Cross-kingdom coverage: incorporates Bacteria, Fungi, and Archaea.
Technical specifications
| Biosafety | BSL 1. Microbes have been fully inactivated. |
|---|---|
| Impurity level | < 0.01% foreign microbial DNA |
| Reference genomes | 16S & 18S rRNA genes https://s3.amazonaws.com/zymo-files/BioPool/D6331.refseq.zip |
| Relative-abundance deviation | <15% |
| Storage solution | 2X DNA/RNA Shield (Cat. No. R1200-125). |
| Total cell concentration | ~3.94 x 109 cells/ml |
Material for download
ZymoBIOMICS gut microbiome standard protocol
ZymoBIOMICS gut microbiome standard datasheet
ZymoBIOMICS gut microbiome standard SDS
Products
Note: product availability depends on country - see product detail page.
| Details | Cat number & supplier | Size | Price |
| ZymoBIOMICS Gut Microbiome Standard (10 preps.) D6331 · Zymo Research | D6331 Zymo Research |
10 preps |
£570.00
10 preps
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