Fig. 3. Potential function alterations of the gut microbiota after supplementation with L. reuteri.

a Gene number of the gut microbiota in the PR (n = 9) and GR (n = 9) groups at the two time points. 20 million reads from each sample were sampled in order to rarefy the reads to the same depth of sequencing. The blue and red colors indicate the GR and PR groups, respectively. The upper quartile, median and lower quartile are shown in the box plot. b The Venn diagram shows differential KOs between the GR (n = 9) and PR (n = 9) groups or between baseline and 12 months (Adjusted P-value < 0.1 by DESeq2). ‘GR/PR 0’ and ‘GR/PR 12’ denote the comparative analysis between the GR and PR groups at baseline and 12 months, respectively. ‘GR 12/0’ and ‘PR 12/0’ denote the comparative analysis between the two time points in the GR and PR groups, respectively. c The volcano plot displays the differential genes involved in biofilm formation (Escherichia coli) between the GR (n = 9) and PR (n = 9) groups at 12 months. The blue color indicates the differential genes; The horizontal and vertical dashed lines indicate P-value < 0.01 and |log₂ fold change | >1, respectively.