Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships
Pediatric asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in the US and a major public health concern. It is considered to comprise multiple clinical variants or phenotypes with different etiologies and pathophysiologies. Former research has shown that airway bacteriomes vary in composition and...
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MDPI AG
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Allergies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5786/5/2/14 |
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| author | Marcos Pérez-Losada |
| author_facet | Marcos Pérez-Losada |
| author_sort | Marcos Pérez-Losada |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Pediatric asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in the US and a major public health concern. It is considered to comprise multiple clinical variants or phenotypes with different etiologies and pathophysiologies. Former research has shown that airway bacteriomes vary in composition and structure across pediatric asthma phenotypes, but their functional diversity and bacterial interactions have hardly been investigated. A previous study of 163 children from Washington DC identified three statistically different asthma phenotypes, each with a unique nasopharyngeal bacterial composition and diversity. Here, I reanalyze 16S rRNA high-throughput sequences from the same cohort to characterize their bacterial metabolism and interactions. I detect 61 to 102 metabolic pathways (PICRUSt2; q ≤ 0.05) differentially expressed across the three asthma phenotypes. Most of those pathways are related to biosynthesis and degradation processes and statistically (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.0012) separated the three clinical groups. Co-occurrence networks also differ in connectivity across phenotypes, suggesting unique bacterial interactions in each group. Five to eight keystone taxa are detected across phenotypes. Insights from this and previous studies, hence, confirm the airway bacteriome heterogeneity across pediatric asthma, increasing our understanding of its etiology and pathophysiology, and provide new taxonomic and functional biomarkers of disease for targeted interventions and therapies. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3816d210f35a4a38a63ceeb541dfd058 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2313-5786 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Allergies |
| spelling | doaj-art-3816d210f35a4a38a63ceeb541dfd0582025-08-20T03:30:25ZengMDPI AGAllergies2313-57862025-05-01521410.3390/allergies5020014Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network RelationshipsMarcos Pérez-Losada0Computational Biology Institute, Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Milken Institute School of Public Health, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052-0066, USAPediatric asthma is the most common chronic childhood disease in the US and a major public health concern. It is considered to comprise multiple clinical variants or phenotypes with different etiologies and pathophysiologies. Former research has shown that airway bacteriomes vary in composition and structure across pediatric asthma phenotypes, but their functional diversity and bacterial interactions have hardly been investigated. A previous study of 163 children from Washington DC identified three statistically different asthma phenotypes, each with a unique nasopharyngeal bacterial composition and diversity. Here, I reanalyze 16S rRNA high-throughput sequences from the same cohort to characterize their bacterial metabolism and interactions. I detect 61 to 102 metabolic pathways (PICRUSt2; q ≤ 0.05) differentially expressed across the three asthma phenotypes. Most of those pathways are related to biosynthesis and degradation processes and statistically (<i>p</i> ≤ 0.0012) separated the three clinical groups. Co-occurrence networks also differ in connectivity across phenotypes, suggesting unique bacterial interactions in each group. Five to eight keystone taxa are detected across phenotypes. Insights from this and previous studies, hence, confirm the airway bacteriome heterogeneity across pediatric asthma, increasing our understanding of its etiology and pathophysiology, and provide new taxonomic and functional biomarkers of disease for targeted interventions and therapies.https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5786/5/2/1416S rRNAasthmabacteriomekeystone taxametabolic pathwaysmicrobiome |
| spellingShingle | Marcos Pérez-Losada Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships Allergies 16S rRNA asthma bacteriome keystone taxa metabolic pathways microbiome |
| title | Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships |
| title_full | Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships |
| title_fullStr | Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships |
| title_full_unstemmed | Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships |
| title_short | Different Phenotypes of Pediatric Asthma Show Distinct Bacterial Functional Profiles and Network Relationships |
| title_sort | different phenotypes of pediatric asthma show distinct bacterial functional profiles and network relationships |
| topic | 16S rRNA asthma bacteriome keystone taxa metabolic pathways microbiome |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2313-5786/5/2/14 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT marcosperezlosada differentphenotypesofpediatricasthmashowdistinctbacterialfunctionalprofilesandnetworkrelationships |