About the Authors

Marion Engel

Contributed equally to this work with: Marion Engel, David Endesfelder

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

marion.engel@helmholtz-muenchen.de

Affiliations Scientific Computing Research Unit, Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany, Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

David Endesfelder

Contributed equally to this work with: Marion Engel, David Endesfelder

Roles Data curation, Formal analysis, Methodology, Validation, Visualization, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

Current address: Bundesamt für Strahlenschutz, Fachbereich Strahlenschutz und Gesundheit, Oberschleißheim, Germany

Affiliation Scientific Computing Research Unit, Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Brigitte Schloter-Hai

Roles Conceptualization, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Susanne Kublik

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Michael S. Granitsiotis

Roles Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing – review & editing

Current address: Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, CA, United States of America

Affiliation Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Piera Boschetto

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Mariarita Stendardo

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Medical Sciences, University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy

Imre Barta

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiology, National Koranyi Institute for TB and Pulmonology, Budapest, Hungary

Balazs Dome

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Pathophysiology, National Koranyi Institute for TB and Pulmonology, Budapest, Hungary

Jean-François Deleuze

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Centre National de Génotypage, Institut de Génomique, CEA, Evry, France

Anne Boland

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Centre National de Génotypage, Institut de Génomique, CEA, Evry, France

Joachim Müller-Quernheim

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Pneumology, University Medical Center, Freiburg, Germany

Antje Prasse

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany

Tobias Welte

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany

Jens Hohlfeld

Roles Investigation, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany, Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany, Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine, Hannover, Germany

Deepak Subramanian

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom

David Parr

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Department of Respiratory Medicine, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust, Coventry, United Kingdom

Ivo Glynne Gut

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation CNAG-CRG, Centre for Genomic Regulation, Barcelona Institute for Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain

Timm Greulich

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany

Andreas Rembert Koczulla

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliations Member of the German Center for Lung Research (DZL), Giessen, Germany, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, University Medical Center Giessen and Marburg Philipps-University, Marburg, Germany

Adam Nowinski

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Second Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Dorota Gorecka

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Second Department of Respiratory Medicine, National Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland

Dave Singh

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation University of Manchester, Medicines Evaluation Unit and University Hospital of South Manchester Foundation Trust, Manchester, United Kingdom

Sumit Gupta

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute for Lung Health, Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Christopher E. Brightling

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute for Lung Health, Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom

Harald Hoffmann

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation Institute of Microbiology and Laboratory Medicine, Synlab MVZ Gauting & IML red GmbH, Gauting, Germany

Marion Frankenberger

Roles Conceptualization, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation CPC Comprehensive Pneumology Center, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Ludwig-Maximilians Universität und Asklepios Klinik Gauting, Munich, Germany

Thomas P. Hofer

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation EvA Study Center, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Gauting, Germany

Dorothe Burggraf

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation EvA Study Center, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Gauting, Germany

Marion Heiss-Neumann

Roles Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation EvA Study Center, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Gauting, Germany

Loems Ziegler-Heitbrock

Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Project administration, Resources, Writing – review & editing

Affiliation EvA Study Center, Helmholtz Zentrum Muenchen, Gauting, Germany

Michael Schloter

Roles Conceptualization, Project administration, Supervision, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliation Research Unit Comparative Microbiome Analysis, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany

Wolfgang zu Castell

Roles Formal analysis, Methodology, Supervision, Validation, Writing – original draft, Writing – review & editing

‡ These authors also contributed equally to this work.

Affiliations Scientific Computing Research Unit, Institute of Computational Biology, Helmholtz Zentrum München, Neuherberg, Germany, Department of Mathematics, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

Competing Interests

HH is an employee of Synlab MVZ Gauting & IML red GmbH and received salaries from Synlab MVZ Gauting & IML red GmbH. This does not alter his adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.