Composition of children pharyngeal microbiome by 16S rRNA deep sequencing

Abstract

<p>The upper respiratory tract (URT) is colonised by a large variety of bacteria that constitute the respiratory microbiota. Most do not have a role and may even be protective. The aim of the present study was to analyse the microbiome and characterize the relative abundance of microbial communities of the pharynx by next generation sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene of bacteria in healthy children and children with a respiratory infection. Ten phyla were identified in the 8 study subjects. The most abundant phyla detected, were Firmicutes, Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes, while the relative abundance of each was highly variable across the subjects. At the family, genus and species level, 24 families, 19 genera and 71 species respectively were common both in patients and healthy subjects, while some (28 families and 24 genera) were identified only in healthy subjects and few (7 families, 8 genera and 9 species) were identified only in patients. No statistically significant differences were observed in relation to the age or gender of the subjects. Interestingly, the most abundant bacteria detected in healthy children were Streptococcus, Prevotella, Moraxella, Veillonella and leptotrichia, while in young patients Moraxellawas not detected among the most prevalent bacteria, supporting the notion that it may play a protective role in infection. Protective and pathogenic bacteria have been identified in healthy children and in patients. Such studies can form the basis for new approaches to fight diseases responding poorly to traditional interventions.</p&gt