FIG 2.

Principal-coordinate analysis (PCoA) and metabolite profile of planktonic and sessile artificial colonic microbiota of independent colonic fermentation models. (A) PCoA plot based on weighted UniFrac distance matrices of planktonic microbiota (plankM) and sessile microbiota (sessM) of fermentation F1 and F2. For better visualization, F1 samples were marked with a red circle and F2 samples with a blue circle. plankM_F1.1 (for cryopreservation) and plankM_F1.2 (for lyophilization) were sampled 21 days apart, whereas plankM_F2.1 (for cryopreservation) and plankM_F2.2 (for lyophilization) were harvested on consecutive days (Fig. S1). SessM_F1 and sessM_F2 were harvested at the end of the fermentation experiments after 48 and 19 days of continuous operation, respectively. (B and C) Metabolite ratios of main SCFA acetate, propionate, and butyrate and BCFA isobutyrate, isovalerate, and valerate of F1 (B) and F2 (C) were calculated from absolute average values determined for three consecutive sampling days. Cryo, cryopreservation; Lyo, lyophilization.