Microbiome in Acute Exacerbation and Stable Phase of COPD: A Descriptive and Comparative Study of 16s rRNA Sequencing and Metagenomic Sequencing

Abstract Background: The role of bacteria in different courses of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has not been very clarified. In this study, sputum samples from patients at different courses of COPD were collected to analyze the differences of the structure and function of respiratory microbiome in different courses of COPD. Results: Our study involved 38 patients with acute exacerbation of COPD (AECOPD). Among them, 42 sputum samples were collected from the acute exacerbation of COPD (Of these 38 patients, 4 patients also collected sputum from the second acute exacerbation phase), and 12 sputum samples were collected from the stable phase of COPD (6 of the above 38 patients). Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Bacteroidetes and Actinobacteria dominated the phylum in all the COPD samples, while Streptococcus, Neisseria, Haemophilus and Prevotella is the top 4 species in the cohort. Salmonella, Salmonella, Pseudomonas and Proteobacteria achieved higher abundance in AECOPD group. Samples from AECOPD patients showed higher α diversity. Moreover, genes annotated to K07481(the function is related to transposase) and K16087(the function is related to hemoglobin/transferrin/lactoferrin receptor protein) in stable subgroup showed higher abundance than that in acute exacerbation subgroup. Compared to samples from stable COPD, Proteobacteria contributed the most antibiotic resistance genes. Conclusions: There are differences in the function and metabolism of respiratory microbiome in patients with different course of COPD. Word count: 218 / 350