Fig. 4. Bifidobacterium longum strains are characterized by HMO gene content and stratified by breastfeeding status.

Gene families involved in HMO utilization and showing contrasting presence in B. longum genomes during breastfeeding (n = 1,584 samples) compared to after weaning (n = 3,705 samples). Abundance heat map columns represent stool samples in which the relative abundance of B. longum species was more than 10% (n = 5,289 samples). Rows and columns were ordered by hierarchical clustering using the complete linkage method. As in Fig. 3, values reflect units of CPM and were further divided by relative abundance of B. longum to obtain quantifications that are comparable between samples. UniRef90 identifiers and gene names or families are indicated on the left.