Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-28-2014
Publication Title
Microbiome
Department
Geisel School of Medicine
Abstract
Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CFTR gene that predispose the airway to infection. Chronic infection by pathogens such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa leads to inflammation that gradually degrades lung function, resulting in morbidity and early mortality. In a previous study of CF monozygotic twins, we demonstrate that genetic modifiers significantly affect the establishment of persistent P. aeruginosa colonization in CF. Recognizing that bacteria other than P. aeruginosa contribute to the CF microbiome and associated pathology, we used deep sequencing of sputum from pediatric monozygotic twins and nontwin siblings with CF to characterize pediatric bacterial communities and the role that genetics plays in their evolution.
We found that the microbial communities in sputum from pediatric patients living together were much more alike than those from pediatric individuals living apart, regardless of whether samples were taken from monozygous twins or from nontwin CF siblings living together, which we used as a proxy for dizygous twins. In contrast, adult communities were comparatively monolithic and much less diverse than the microbiome of pediatric patients.
DOI
10.1186/2049-2618-2-14
Dartmouth Digital Commons Citation
Hampton, Thomas H.; Green, Deanna M.; Cutting, Garry R.; Morrison, Hilary G.; Sogin, Mitchell L.; Gifford, Alex H.; Stanton, Bruce A.; and O’Toole, George A., "The Microbiome in Pediatric Cystic Fibrosis Patients: The Role of Shared Environment Suggests a Window of Intervention" (2014). Dartmouth Scholarship. 1302.
https://digitalcommons.dartmouth.edu/facoa/1302