Analysis of airway microbiota in adults from a Brazilian cystic fibrosis center

Abstract

The application of next-generation sequencing tools revealed that the cystic fibrosis respiratory tract is a polymicrobial environment. We have characterized the airway bacterial microbiota of five adult patients with cystic fibrosis during a 14-month period by 16S rRNA tag sequencing using the Illumina technology. Microbial diversity, estimated by the Shannon index, varied among patient samples collected throughout the follow-up period. The beta diversity analysis revealed that the composition of the airway microbiota was highly specific for each patient, showing little variation among the samples of each patient analyzed over time. The composition of the bacterial microbiota did not reveal any emerging pathogen predictor of pulmonary disease in cystic fibrosis or of its unfavorable clinical progress, except for unveiling the presence of anaerobic microorganisms, even without any established clinical association. Our results could potentialy help us to translate and develop strategies in response to the pathobiology of this disease, particularly because it represents an innovative approach for CF centers in Brazil.