Culture-Independent Identification of Nontuberculous Mycobacteria in Cystic Fibrosis Respiratory Samples
Fig 2
(A) Relative abundances of NTM OTUs and (B) total bacterial load in NTM culture-positive samples. (A) The mean relative abundance of NTM OTUs in the samples processed with the standard protocol was not significantly different from that observed when these samples were processed with the modified protocol (mean 0.098% and 1.21%, respectively; p = 0.08, paired t-test). (B) Total bacterial load in NTM culture-positive samples as measured by 16S rRNA gene qPCR did not significantly differ between lysis protocols. (p = 0.91, paired t-test). Error bars indicate mean and SD.