Fig. 5: Significance of key microbial species involved in functional KEGG pathways (n = 9).

a Hindgut microbiota KEGG pathways for metabolism that were perturbed between the HOS and LOS groups (P < 0.10), along with the average transcripts per million for each pathway in each group. P values calculated using the Wilcoxon test. b Spearman’s correlations between altered fecal microbial species and their impact on functional KEGG pathways (level C). The circles overlaid on diamonds represent the significance of individual microbial species. The bar chart summarizes the total explained variations in microbial species, integrating this information with the heatmap. APM, BM, CAM, DGM, GM, GLM, GPM, LM, OP, PB, PRM, PYM, SBAM, VBM, ALM, and BAM denote arginine and proline metabolism, butanoate metabolism, cysteine and methionine metabolism, D-glutamine and D-glutamate metabolism, glutathione metabolism, glycerolipid metabolism, glycerophospholipid metabolism, linoleic acid metabolism, one carbon pool by folate, oxidative phosphorylation, primary bile acid biosynthesis, propanoate metabolism, pyruvate metabolism, secondary bile acid biosynthesis, vitamin B6 metabolism, alpha-linolenic acid metabolism, and beta-alanine metabolism, respectively. Signature bacteria names are labeled red.