Figure 6. Fecal transplants from obese and lean UK Twins to germfree mice reveal levels of Christenenallaceae post-transfer mirror delayed weight gain.

A: Median relative abundances for OTUs classified as the genus Christensenella in the four donor treatment groups over time in the recipient mouse microbiotas. B: Principal coordinates analysis of unweighted UniFrac distances for (i) the inoculum prior to transplantation, (ii) fecal samples at 4 time points, and (iii) cecal samples at Day 21 post-transplant; see panel legend for color key. The amount of variance described by the first two PCs is shown on the axes. C: Richness (Faith's PD) for the microbiomes of the transplant mice plotted against time (days post inoculation, with Day 0 = inoculation day). D: The mean values ± S.E.M. for PC3 derived for the same analysis as shown in panel B are plotted against time (Day 0 = inoculation day) for the four treatment groups. The amount of variance explained by PC3 is in parentheses. E: Percent weight change since inoculation for germfree mouse recipients of 21 donor stools that were obtained from lean or obese donors with or without detectable M. smithii, which was used as a marker for the Christensenellaceae consortium. Means for each treatment group are plotted ± S. E. M. F: Box plots for percent weight changes for the 4 groups at Day 12 post-transplant, when maximal weight differences were observed. Letters next to boxes indicate significant differences if letters are different (p < 0.05). For all panels, Dark blue = L+, lean donor with methanogens; Light blue = L-, lean donor lacking methanogens; Dark orange = O+, obese donor with methanogens; Light orange = O-, obese donor without methanogens. We repeated this experiment with a set of 21 new mice and unique human donors and recovered the same effect. Relates to Figure S5.