Sputum Bacterial and Fungal Dynamics during Exacerbations of Severe COPD

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 10; no. 7; p. e0130736
• Main Authors: Su, Jin, Liu, Hai-yue, Tan, Xi-lan, Ji, Yong, Jiang, Yun-xia, Prabhakar, M, Rong, Zu-hua, Zhou, Hong-wei, Zhang, Guo-xia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 06.07.2015; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Actinomyces; Bacteria; Bacteria - classification; Bacteria - isolation & purification; Bacterial infections; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Communities; Community structure; Critical care; Deoxyribonucleic acid; DNA; DNA barcoding; DNA sequencing; Dynamic structural analysis; Environmental health; Episode of Care; Fungi; Fungi - classification; Fungi - isolation & purification; Gene sequencing; Health care; Hospitalization; Hospitals; Humans; Infections; Laboratories; Lung diseases; Medicine; Microbial activity; Microbiota; Microorganisms; Mortality; Nucleotide sequence; Obstructive lung disease; Patients; Phylogeny; Primers; Public health; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - microbiology; Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive - physiopathology; Respiratory diseases; rRNA 16S; Spacer; Species Specificity; Sputum; Sputum - microbiology; Studies; Tropical diseases
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0130736

The changes in the microbial community structure during acute exacerbations of severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in hospitalized patients remain largely uncharacterized. Therefore, further studies focused on the temporal dynamics and structure of sputum microbial communities during acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD) would still be necessary. In our study, the use of molecular microbiological techniques provided insight into both fungal and bacterial diversities in AECOPD patients during hospitalization. In particular, we examined the structure and varieties of lung microbial community in 6 patients with severe AECOPD by amplifying 16S rRNA V4 hyper-variable and internal transcribed spacer (ITS) DNA regions using barcoded primers and the Illumina sequencing platform. Sequence analysis showed 261 bacterial genera representing 20 distinct phyla, with an average number of genera per patient of >157, indicating high diversity. Acinetobacter, Prevotella, Neisseria, Rothia, Lactobacillus, Leptotrichia, Streptococcus, Veillonella, and Actinomyces were the most commonly identified genera, and the average total sequencing number per sputum sample was >10000 18S ITS sequences. The fungal population was typically dominated by Candia, Phialosimplex, Aspergillus, Penicillium, Cladosporium and Eutypella. Our findings highlight that COPD patients have personalized structures and varieties in sputum microbial community during hospitalization periods.