Fig. 2: FMT from CORT-treated mice causes depression and successful engraftment of dominant microbiota in GM-depleted mice.

a Schematic for experimental procedures. b Comparison of the immobility time in the FST for the two groups of mice. c Comparison of the immobility time in the TST for the two groups of mice. d Representative images of EdU staining within the DG of hippocampus. e Quantitative analysis of EdU+ cell within the DG of the hippocampus. f Beta-diversity-based PCA plots showing microbial compositional difference at genus level between the two groups. g Taxonomic cladogram obtained using LEfSe analysis. Taxonomic levels are represented by the rings from phylum level (innermost ring) to genus level (outermost ring). LEfSe identified the taxa (highlighted by small circles and by shading) with significant difference in abundance value between the two groups. Colors of circle and shading indicate the microbial lineages that are enriched within the corresponding groups. h Bar graph showing the relative bacterial abundance at the order level. i Bar graph showing the relative bacterial abundance at the genus level. j Bar graph showing the relative bacterial abundance at the species level. For behavioral tests, n = 15 for each group, comparisons were performed using Student’s t test. For the EdU test, n = 5 for each group, comparisons were performed using nonparametric Mann–Whitney U test. For 16S rRNA sequencing, N = 7 for each group; comparisons were performed using Welch’s t test. Data are presented as the mean ± SEM. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001. CORT corticosterone, Veh vehicle, TST tail suspension test, FST forced swimming test, FC fecal collection, EdU-I EdU injection, DG dentate gyrus. Abx-FMT/V antibiotic treatment followed by FMT from vehicle-treated mice, Abx-FMT/C: antibiotic treatment followed by FMT from CORT-treated mice; Scale bar: 100 μm.