Figure 4.
Premature birth influences long-term age-related respiratory and gut microbiota community progression
Microbiota community profiling was performed on (A and C) rectal and (B and D) nasal samples obtained from 159 infants during regular surveillance and acute respiratory illness.
(A and B) Microbiota community state types (CSTs) were defined for each body site based on sample composition, and the relative abundances of the top 25 most abundant genera were visualized using heatmaps, with samples as columns, clustered by CST. CSTs were numbered according to average PMA of occurrence.
(C and D) Samples within each CST were plotted against subjects' PMA at the time of sample collection. Each dot represents a single sample, colored by the subject’s GA. r2 values show correlations between CST and PMA. Asterisks at the base of the dot plots indicate significant enrichment for either preterm (orange) or full-term samples (blue) within a CST controlling for confounders and repeated measures (∗p < 0.05, ∗∗p < 0.01, ∗∗∗p < 0.001, two-tailed binomial test).