Association of bacterial community types, functional microbial processes, and lung disease in cystic fibrosis airways

We analyzed the bacterial communities of sputum samples from persons with cystic fibrosis by sequencing bacterial 16S rRNA gene amplicons. Community types (pulmotypes) were identified using a Dirichlet multinomial mixture model, and correlations were determined between pulmotypes and patient clinical status. Pulmotype-specific metabolic activity profiles suggested that pulmotype microbiota drive distinct community functions.