Fig. 2

The LRT microbial composition and hierarchical clustering of P. aeruginosa VAP patients. Initial samples were analyzed. a The Bray curtis distance matrix was used to construct a dendrogram including 36 P. aeruginosa VAP patients. Clusters were separated by black dotted line originating from the top of the dendrogram. The microbial composition at phylum level was visualized as bar charts. Patient number is indicated at the left of each bar. Each bar represents 100% of the OTUs detected per patient; OTUs are color-coded according to phylum. The predominant phylum in Pro cluster was Proteobacteria, and the predominant phylum in Fir-Bac cluster was Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. b Comparison of different taxa between Pro cluster and Fir-Bac cluster. Data were presented as mean ± Standard deviation. The difference between groups was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test, ***P < 0.001. LRT lower respiratory tract; VAP, ventilator-associated pneumonia; OTUs, operational taxonomic units