Fig. 1: Diet modulates K. pneumoniae (K. pn) colonization dynamics and clearance is accelerated by K. oxytoca (K. oxy) colonization.

a Schematic showing the experimental setup. Mice were placed on specific diets and ampicillin, after which one group per diet received K. oxytoca inoculation orally while the other group per diet received no inoculation. All mice were challenged with K. pneumoniae on 0 dpi. b Mean K. oxytoca CFUs with SD confirming fecal colonization on − 1 dpi from three independent experiments with n = 3–6 mice/group. P-values represent ordinary one-way ANOVA analysis with Tukey’s multiple comparison test with *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.0001. c Median K. pneumoniae CFUs with 95% CI per group per day in mice fed standard chow, semi-synthetic, semi-synthetic high-sucrose, and semi-synthetic high-fat/high-sucrose diets from three independent experiments with n = 3–6 mice/group. Bars represent group medians, and individual dots represent fecal samples collected from individual mice. Two-tailed p-values indicated at individual time points represent Mann-Whitney non-parametric rank comparison between K. oxytoca pre-colonized and non-colonized groups per day with *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.005, ****p < 0.0001. Global p-values represent a two-way repeated-measures ANOVA with Geisser-Greenhouse correction. d Clearance rates of K. pneumoniae per group per day representing the percentage of animals in each experimental group showing clearance. Number of all animals and those showing clearance are indicated in parentheses. P-values represent the Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test with *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001. Panel (a) Created with BioRender.com.