Extended Data Fig. 6: Analysis of barrier integrity and mucin-associated glycan degrading capacities of reduced microbiota compositions.
From: Gut microbial factors predict disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis
a, Strain relative abundances in SM03-, SM04- and SM12-colonized mice after initial colonization as detected by qPCR using strain-specific primers (Supplementary Table 1). b–e, Activities of α-fucosidase (Fuc), α-galactosidase (Gal), β-glucosidase (Gluc), β-N-acetyl-glucosaminidase (Nag), and sulfatase (Sulf) in faeces collected before EAE induction (START), during the phase with the maximum EAE score (PEAK, day 14–20, depending on the individual), and remission (REM, day 21–25 after EAE induction). b, Boxplot of faecal enzymatic activities before EAE induction (START). One-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post-hoc test. Statistical differences indicated by compact letter display: two groups sharing an assigned letter, non-significant; two groups not sharing an assigned letter, p < 0.05. c, Boxplot of faecal enzyme activities of EAE-induced mice, based on cluster affiliation (Fig. 5e) and phase (START, PEAK, REM). Unpaired t-test; ns, non-significant. d, Pearson correlations of faecal enzymatic activities of EAE-induced mice before EAE induction with key EAE-associated readouts after EAE-induction in the same individuals. All correlations non-significant. e, Faecal concentrations of lipocalin 2 (LCN2; 1 outlier removed from SM01 FR) and serum concentrations of lipopolysaccharide (LPS), occludin (OCLN), and zonulin (ZO-1; 1 outlier removed from SM04 FR and SM14 FR) in non-EAE-induced mice (−EAE) or EAE-induced mice at 30 d after EAE-induction (+EAE). One-way ANOVA. ns, non-significant. f, Pearson correlations between faecal LCN2 concentrations, serum OCLN concentrations, serum LPS concentrations and serum ZO-1 concentrations before induction of EAE with key EAE-associated readouts in the same individual across all tested microbiota–diet combinations. All correlations non-significant. g, Faecal concentrations of short-chain fatty acids (SCFA) in non-EAE-induced mice of certain microbiota–diet combinations. One-way ANOVA followed by a Tukey’s post-hoc test. Statistical differences indicated by compact letter display: two groups sharing an assigned letter, p > 0.05; two groups not sharing an assigned letter, p < 0.05. Mouse numbers are indicated on the respective panels and treated as biological replicates. Boxplots (b, c, e, g) show median, quartiles, and 1.5 × interquartile range.
