Revival of Mucin-Degrading Human-Derived Fecal Microbial Consortia After Cryopreservation

Human gut microbial communities capable of degrading mucin are taxonomically unique and have a range of physiologically relevant metabolic outputs. To determine the feasibility of reviving mucin-degrading fecal microbial communities after cryopreservation, we employed 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize revived communities. Microbial communities were generally stable but small donor-dependent shifts in diversity, composition, and taxonomy were observed following revival. The revivability of these microbial communities is valuable for studying mucin-degrading microbial communities.