A relationship between growth behaviour and cystic fibrosis patient lung function identified in a metabolomic investigation.

Chronic polymicrobial lung infections in adult cystic fibrosis patients are typically dominated by high levels of . Determining the impact of growth on airway secretion composition is fundamental to understanding both the behaviour of this pathogen , and its relationship with other potential colonising species. We hypothesised that the marked differences in the phenotypes of clinical isolates would be reflected in the metabolite composition of spent culture media. H NMR spectroscopy was used to characterise the impact of growth on a synthetic medium as part of an CF lower airways model system. Comparisons of 15 CF clinical isolates were made and four distinct metabolomic clusters identified. Highly significant relationships between isolate cluster membership and both patient lung function (FEV) and spent culture pH were identified. This link between clinical isolate growth behaviour and FEV indicates characterisation of growth may find application in predicting patient lung function while the significant divergence in metabolite production and consumption observed between CF clinical isolates suggests dominant isolate characteristics have the potential to play both a selective role in microbiota composition and influence pseudomonal behaviour .