Fig. 4

LEfSe analysis revealed the discriminative microbes in AECOPD, stable COPD, control, and recovery patient groups. a The histogram indicates the LDA score. These taxa showed statistically significant differences between the four groups (p < 0.05 by the Wilcoxon test). We selected the LDA threshold value of > 4 as significant in each group. b The cladogram of major differentially abundant taxa is based on LEfSe analysis. The circles radiating from inside to outside represent the taxonomic level from phylum to genus. Each small circle at a different classification level represents a classification at that level, and the diameter of the small circle is proportional to relative abundance. Different species biomarker follows the group for coloring. For example, the red node indicates the group of microorganisms that play an important role in the AECOPD group. The diameter of each circle represents the relative abundance of each taxon