Fig. 4

Effect of a mixture of seven short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)-producing bacterial strains (7-mix) and the corresponding culture supernatant mixture (mix-sup) on bacterial diversity and abundance and SCFA concentrations in the feces of colitic mice. A. α-diversity (Shannon index) and β-diversity (principal coordinate analysis) in the feces of colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, or mix-sup. B, Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size analysis of differentially abundant (LDA scores > 4) taxa in colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, or mix-sup. C. qRT-PCR analysis of the relative abundance of seven bacterial species in the feces of colitic mice treated with PBS, 7-mix, or mix-sup at the experimental endpoint. D. Relative abundance of three bacterial strains in the mix-sup group (blue bars) and 7-mix group (red bars) on days 1, 5 and 8 after colitis induction. E. Relative abundance of four bacterial strains in the 7-mix group on days 1, 5, and 8 after colitis induction. F, SCFA levels in the study groups. N = 3–5, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001