Understanding the carriage dynamics of nasopharyngeal microbiota in Malawian children and adults: a metagenomic analysis.. Nasopharyngeal microbiome

This study was part of a project investigating the nasopharyngeal carriage of streptococcus pneumoniae in Malawian children and adults by microarray. Because the nasopharynx is colonised by several other microorganisms, we decided to investigate whether pneumococcal carriage dynamics was associated with carriage of particular microbial species. We collected nasopharyngeal swabs from children (n=51) aged 0-15 years and adults (n=55), all carriers of Streptococcus pnumoniae. DNA was extracted directly from the samples, followed by a PCR amplification of the 16S rRNA gene. The 16S amplicons were sequenced by 454 pyrosequencing.