Abstract Background Bacteria in lung play an important role in sustaining lung health. Understanding the characteristics of bacteriomes in lesions of pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) patients, who excrete Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB), is important for TB prevention and effective treatment. Methods In this study, bacteriomes in lesions from TB patients excreting bacteria (TB-E) and those from TB patients not excreting bacteria (TB-NE) with matched normal lung tissues (NT) were compared by 16S rRNA sequencing. Bacterial MetaCyc functions...