Diversity of Fungi and Bacteria in Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid during Development of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Dynamic changes in the microbiome during chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) exacerbations remain unclear. Using 16S ribosomal DNA and fungal internal transcribed spacer DNA sequencing, we described the composition and changes in the bacterial and fungal microbiota of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid samples from 15 COPD patients and seven non-COPD patients. In patients with COPD, the dominant bacterial phyla were Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. The most abundant fungal phyla were the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota. In terms of the genera of bacteria and fungi, the numbers of Veillonella, Prevotella-7, Haemophilus, and Aspergillus were significantly higher in patients with COPD than in the non-COPD patients. In addition, after the progression of COPD, the relative abundances of the fungal genera Aspergillus, Mortierella, Grifola, Thermoascus, Russula, and Thermomyces and the bacterial genus Proteobacteria increased significantly. Existing analyses have demonstrated changes in the diversity of bacterial and fungal communities, which appear to be related to COPD. Our results demonstrate the potential utility of microbiota as a possible biomarker for disease progression and provide therapeutic targets for COPD.