Year: 2018
Type: dissertation
Abstract: Introduction: Use of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) for analysis of the allograft microbiota in lung transplant recipients (LTR) by culture-independent analysis poses specific challenges due to its highly variable bacterial density. Approach: We developed a methodology to analyze low-density BALF using a serially diluted mock community and BALF from uninfected LTR. Methods/Results: A mock microbial community was used to establish the properties of true-positive taxa and contaminants in BALF. Contaminants had an inverse relationship with input bacterial density. Concentrating samples increased the bacterial density and the ratio of community taxa (signal) to contaminants (noise), whereas DNase treatment decreased density and signal:noise. Systematic removal of contaminants had an important impact on microbiota-inflammation correlations in BALF. Conclusions: There is an inverse relationship between microbial density and the proportion of contaminants within microbial communities across the density range of BALF. This study has implications for the analysis and interpretation of BALF microbiota.
Source: TSpace (University of Toronto)
Author: Janice Prescod
Language: English
Subfield: Surgery
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W3154220942