ArticleCommunications biology2025
Altered microbiota of the lower respiratory tract and its association with COVID-19 severity analysed by metagenomics and metatranscriptomics.
Article in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.
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Who cites it
6 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intracellular microbial shifts during COVID-19 infection and longitudinal recovery revealed by single-cell RNA sequencing.iScience · 2026Article
- Periodontitis and respiratory infections - exploring the oral-systemic link.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Integrated multiplex PCR and metatranscriptomics reveal upper-lower airway microbial landscapes in pediatric respiratory infections.Virologica Sinica · 2026Article
- Epidemiological characteristics and co-occurrence patterns ofJournal of oral microbiology · 2026Article
- Tracing the evolutionary pathway of SARS-CoV-2 through RNA sequencing analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Respiratory microbiota, host immunity, respiratory viral infections and malignant tumors.Frontiers in microbiology · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
18 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The interaction between gut and oropharyngeal microbiota plays a significant role in the viral infections like SARS-CoV-2, but role of the lower respiratory tract microbiota remains unclear. Our study utilized metatranscriptomics and metagenomics to analyze the microbial composition of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and sputum samples from 116 COVID-19 patients, categorized into mild, severe, and critical groups. Our analysis revealed significant differences in viral genotypes across disease stages. As disease severity increased, the Chao index also rose. The mild group was predominantly dominated by Firmicutes, while the severe group showed an increase in Bacteroidetes. The critical group was characterized by a higher abundance of Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. Notably, the abundance of Streptococcus and Rothia decreased as the disease progressed. Additionally, the Shannon index correlated with mortality risk, while the Chao index was associated with ICU admission, mechanical ventilation, and patient survival. These findings highlight the strong link between microbial composition and COVID-19 severity, providing valuable insights for assessing disease progression.
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Registered trials
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