STREAMS guidelines: standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies

Authors

Julia M. Kelliher, New Mexico Consortium
Chloe Mirzayi, The City University of New York
Sarah R. Bordenstein, Pennsylvania State University
Aaron Oliver, Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine
Christina A. Kellogg, United States Geological Survey
Eneida L. Hatcher, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Maureen Berg, U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute
Petr Baldrian, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic
Mashael Aljumaah, UNC School of Medicine
Cassandra Maria Luz Miller, The University of New Mexico
Christopher Mungall, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Vlastimil Novak, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Alexis Palucki, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
Ethan Smith, Pennsylvania State University
Nazifa Tabassum, Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences
Gregory Bonito, Department of Microbiology, Genetics, & Immunology
J. Rodney Brister, National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI)
Patrick S.G. Chain, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Mingfei Chen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Samuel Degregori, University of California, San Diego
Jose Pablo Dundore-Arias, California State University, Monterey Bay
Joanne B. Emerson, University of California, Davis
Vanessa Moreira C. Fernandes, Florida Atlantic University
Roberto Flores, National Institute on Aging (NIA)
Antonio Gonzalez, University of California, San Diego
Zoe A. Hansen, University of Minnesota Twin Cities
Scott A. Jackson, National Institute of Standards and Technology
Ahmed M. Moustafa, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Trent R. Northen, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Nonia Pariente, Public Library of Science
Jennifer Pett-Ridge, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2025

Abstract

The interdisciplinary nature of microbiome research, coupled with the generation of complex multi-omics data, makes knowledge sharing challenging. The Strengthening the Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies (STORMS) guidelines provide a checklist for the reporting of study information, experimental design and analytical methods within a scientific manuscript on human microbiome research. Here, in this Consensus Statement, we present the standards for technical reporting in environmental and host-associated microbiome studies (STREAMS) guidelines. The guidelines expand on STORMS and include 67 items to support the reporting and review of environmental (for example, terrestrial, aquatic, atmospheric and engineered), synthetic and non-human host-associated microbiome studies in a standardized and machine-actionable manner. Based on input from 248 researchers spanning 28 countries, we provide detailed guidance, including comparisons with STORMS, and case studies that demonstrate the usage of the STREAMS guidelines. STREAMS, like STORMS, will be a living community resource updated by the Consortium with consensus-building input of the broader community.

Publication Title

Nature Microbiology

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