Fig. 5: Enhanced coating of potentially flagella- and hexa-acylated lipopolysaccharide-positive bacteria in IgA deficiency.

a The average Ig-coated fraction per g feces within each bacterial family (load of Ig-coated vs. total load of bacterial family) from paired samples of IgA+ and IgA− subjects (n = 2 × 16). Grey boxes represent families with no identified Ig-coating. b Heatmap showing the % of bacteria embedded in mucus compared to their mean abundance in the lumen at three different sites along the intestine in healthy adults (n = 10), Zmora et al.¹⁹. c The upper triangle represents % of ASVs predicted to hold the immunostimulatory potential, while the lower triangle represents the average frequency of Ig−coating of bacteria with the immunostimulatory potential (load of Ig−coated vs. total load of bacteria with immunostimulatory potential, n = 2 × 16). d Boxplots showing the ratio between load of Ig-coated bacteria with the immunostimulatory potential vs. load of Ig-coated bacteria without the immunostimulatory potential in IgA− (n = 16) and IgA+ (n = 16) subjects. Ig-coating data derive from sorted and sequenced Ig-coated bacteria from Fig. 3. Paired Wilcoxon test was used to compare IgA− and IgA+ pairs. P values are two-sided and not adjusted for multiple comparisons. A grey fill indicates IgA− subjects, while a blue fill indicates IgA+ subjects. For boxplots, the center line indicates the median and the box limits indicate the quartiles. Whiskers extend to the data points within 1.58× the interquartile range, and outliers are shown as individual dots.