Table 2.

Additional fields that may be required for a minimal microbiome data set ^a .

Quantity of material deposited	Volume/weight of material (as resource may be finite)
Number of replicates available	The number of environmental replicates preserved/available
Reason for deposit	Medical, conservation, research integrity/publication, legal
Type (format) of material deposited	For example rhizoplane, soil, skin, seed, gut, etc.
Metagenomic DNA	DNA deposit available?
Precise location of collection	Importance as microbiomes can vary on an individual or between plants in the same field/location
Supply conditions	Criteria under which subsamples/archival material (which may be finite) are provided to researchers

^a Although these fields are common to many environmental datasets, they are over and above the requirements traditionally used in culture collections.