Fig. 6: STA supplementation is associated with shifts in microbial fatty acid metabolism pathways.

Functional prediction of fatty acid metabolism-related enzymes using PICRUSt2 showing altered abundances of K13767, K00079, K01054, and K00801 (A–D). Spearman correlation heatmap of differentially abundant bacterial taxa and MCFAs (E), with positive correlations in red and negative in blue; values represent Spearman correlation coefficients (r). Data are presented as mean ± SD. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA with Tukey post hoc test. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, and ***p < 0.001.