Fig. 7

Analysis of OTUs contributing to discrimination of clinically defined groups based on analysis of the lower or upper airway microbiota. SIMPER analysis was used to identify the top 10 OTUs contributing to discrimination of the CSLD and PBB groups. These OTUs were visualised on the CAP ordination with vectors whose length and direction reflected the Spearman rank correlations of these OTUs with the CAP axes. For the lower airway data (a), OTU vectors consistent with a Prevotella sp. and a Leptotrichia sp. are not shown as they overlapped with the M. catarrhalis and the Neisseria sp. vectors, respectively. For the upper airway data (b), the OTU vector consistent with M. lincolnii is not shown as it overlapped with the Porphyromonas sp. vector