Fig. 4: Dynamic metabolomics profiling.

a Stream graph showing the differentially expressed metabolites, split into four categories (lipid, amino acid, nucleotide, and others), between the SC and LC groups (|Log₂(fold change (FC))| > 0.25, Welch’s t-test P < 0.05). A positive number of metabolites represents their upregulation while a negative number represents their downregulation in the LC group. b The sub-classifications of the differentially expressed metabolites in four subcategories (as in a). The length of the circular sector represents the number of metabolites belonging to a sub-pathway. Sub-pathways containing > 1 metabolite are annotated. c The histogram showing that the top three or two dysregulated metabolites between the LC and SC groups in each week. Orange: upregulated metabolites in the LC group; blue: downregulated metabolites in the LC group; |Log₂(FC)| > 0.25, Welch’s t-test P < 0.05). d Connection between the differentially expressed metabolites, the time-point, and the enriched KEGG pathways. Left: bubble plot showing the differentially expressed metabolites between the LC and SC groups (FC > 1 represents upregulation, whereas FC < 1 represents downregulation, in the LC group); the size of the bubbles represents the degree of significance of the difference between the LC and SC groups. Middle: the sizes of the circles represent the numbers of the differentially expressed metabolites at each week. Right: KEGG pathways annotated with the deeper background-colored circle. Blue or red rectangles represent downregulated or upregulated metabolites in the LC group, respectively. The interaction plot was generated using MetaboAnalyst.