Journal of Clinical Medicine Article Characterization of Microbiota in Bronchiectasis Patients with Different Disease Severities Sang Hoon Lee 1 , YeonJoo Lee 2, Jong Sun Park 2, Young-Jae Cho 2, Ho Il Yoon 2, Choon-Taek Lee 2 and Jae Ho Lee 2,* 1 Division of Pulmonology, Department of Internal Medicine, Severance Hospital, Institute of Chest Diseases, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul 120-752, Korea;
[email protected] 2 Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, 82 Gumi-ro, 173 Beon-gil, Bundang-gu, Seongnam-si, Gyeonggi-do 463-707, Korea;
[email protected] (Y.L.);
[email protected] (J.S.P.);
[email protected] (Y.-J.C.);
[email protected] (H.I.Y.);
[email protected] (C.-T.L.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +82-317-877-054 Received: 10 October 2018; Accepted: 6 November 2018; Published: 9 November 2018 Abstract: The applications of the 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing has expanded our knowledge of the respiratory tract microbiome originally obtained using conventional, culture-based methods. In this study, we employed DNA-based molecular techniques for examining the sputum microbiome in bronchiectasis patients, in relation to disease severity. Of the sixty-three study subjects, forty-two had mild and twenty-one had moderate or severe bronchiectasis, which was classified by calculating the FACED score, based on the FEV1 (forced expiratory volume in 1 s, %) (F, 0–2 points), age (A, 0–2 points), chronic colonization by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (C, 0–1 point), radiographic extension (E, 0–1 point), and dyspnoea (D, 0–1 point).