Figure 2
Drinking water acidified with H2SO4 alters the gut microbiota of 129S6/SvEv mice differently than water acidified with HCl. 129S6/SvEv male mice were either kept on non-acidified drinking water or received drinking water acidified with H2SO4 or HCl from weaning (postnatal day 21). Fecal pellets were collected at 3 and 6 months of age to analyze the gut microbiota by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. (a) Alpha diversity, the microbial diversity within a sample quantified by the Shannon diversity index, was significantly decreased by H2SO4-acidified drinking water at 3 months of age. Columns and bars represent mean ± SEM and the circles show the individual data (n = 5 mice, from 4 to 5 different cages for each group). Statistical significance was determined by 1-way ANOVA with Tukey’s post-test for multiple comparisons: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01. (b)–(c) The bacterial community structure in mice receiving H2SO4-acidified drinking water was markedly different than the community structure in mice on non-acidified water or receiving HCl-acidified water at both 3 and 6 months of age (vs. non-acidified water: p = 0.024 at 3 months and p = 0.024 at 6 months; vs. HCl-acidified water: p = 0.027 at 3 months and p = 0.018 at 6 months). (d)–(f) Aging (3 vs. 6 months) did not result in statistically significant alterations in the overall gut microbiota composition of mice. However, some extent of age-dependent clustering was observed in mice receiving HCl-acidified water (e). Statistical significance in the beta diversity analyses was determined by the nonparametric statistical method PERMANOVA in R package “vegan”.
