Fig. 7: Higher GI microbiota diversity and lower relative abundance of core microbes is linked to likelihood of developing elevated peripheral parasitemia.
A Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) of Aitchison distance for CHMI participants. Colors indicate hierarchically determined microbiota clusters (HC1=gold, n = 10 participants; HC=gray, n = 13 participants; HC3=dark cyan, n = 9 participants). Shapes represent unique time-points, with large circles representing baseline samples, small circles representing pre-treatment and post-treatment timepoints, and large squares representing follow-up; lines connect timepoints for each participant. B Boxplots showing the total (Aitchison) distance travelled for participants within each microbiota cluster (HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 0.095; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 0.088; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.600). C Boxplots showing that the distance between baseline and follow-up samples within each microbiota cluster (HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 0.0076; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 0.0015; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.36). D Boxplots showing Shannon diversity levels at baseline and at aggregated points post-challenge (baseline: HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 0.0021; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 0.0011; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.32; post-challenge: HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 0.022; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 0.03; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.43). E Boxplots showing the relative abundance of the core microbiota at baseline and at aggregated points post-challenge (baseline: HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 4.3e-05; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 1.7e-06; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.39); post challenge: HC1 [n = 10] vs HC3 [n = 9], p = 8.7e-05; HC1 vs HC2 [n = 13], p = 2.1e-05; HC2 vs HC3, p = 0.69). For B–E box limits represent the upper and lower quartiles, while box whiskers represent 1.5x the interquartile range. Horizontal lines within each box represent the median. Points overlaying the box and whisker bars represent data from individual CHMI participants. Statistical significance between CHMI participant groups was determined using a 2-sided Wilcoxon rank-sum test, with the p value shown above the horizontal line at the top of each plot. F Scatterplot visualizing the relationship between the relative abundance of core microbes and the log2-transformed peak peripheral parasitemia. Each point represents data from individual CHMI participants (HC1, n = 10 participants; HC2, n = 13 participants; HC3, n = 9 participants). The blue line represents the linear model fit (least-squares regression line) and the shaded error bands represent the 95% confidence interval of the estimated mean response. The line indicates a negative association between peripheral parasitemia and core abundance (r2 = 0.01541, p = 0.026).
