Fig. 4: Heatmaps depict the ANCOM-BC2 pattern analysis.

Monotonic increasing and decreasing trends in microbial species abundances from participants’ stool samples (N = 241) were assessed in relation to a exposure groups (G1 is the reference) and b outcome of HIV-1 infection status. The X-axis delineates contrasts between exposure groups or outcomes, while the Y-axis lists species identified as significant via ANCOM-BC2 pattern analysis. Species that remained significant post-adjustment for multiple comparisons using the Benjamini–Yekutieli (BY) are highlighted in green. Fold-changes (natural log base) are superimposed within each cell. The color spectrum, from blue to red with a neutral white midpoint, visualizes the fold changes. Specifically, blue cells indicate reduced abundance relative to the reference group, and red cells signal increased abundance compared to the reference group. A white cell represents no effect, where the fold change equals 1. Species that are significantly associated with both sexual exposure groups, as well as HIV-1 infection status are highlighted in the red boxes.