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FIGURE 1
The microbiota alters the developmental trajectory of PFC transcriptome associated with oligodendrocyte maturation and myelin‐related pathways. (A) Schematic representation of the experimental timeline for RNASeq of PFC. (B) Volcano plot illustrating the most differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in germ‐free (GF) male mice in young adulthood (p < 0.05). Genes (dots) to the left of “0” are downregulated, while genes to the right are upregulated. (C) Targeted enrichment analysis of genes associated with myelin‐related pathways in young adult GF mice relative to controls. Enrichment analysis was conducted by hypergeometric testing, where a solid grey circle indicates p < 0.05. (D) Heatmap showing the expression fold change (logFC) and significance of differentially expressed genes associated with myelin maturation, activity‐induced, myelin regulation, and nodal physiology of young adult GF versus control mice. Colour indicates logFC, with purple indicating increased expression and blue indicating decreased expression in GF mice compared to controls. (E) Volcano plot illustrating the most differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in GF mice during each of the four early developmental timepoints (p < 0.05). Genes (dots) to the left of “0” are downregulated, while genes to the right are upregulated. (F) Targeted enrichment analysis of genes associated with myelin‐related pathways in early development of GF mice relative to controls. Enrichment analysis was conducted by hypergeometric testing, where a solid grey circle indicates p < 0.05. (G–I) Heatmap showing the expression fold change (logFC) and significance of differentially expressed genes associated with (G) myelin maturation, (H) activity‐induced, myelin regulation, and (I) nodal physiology of GF versus control mice during all four early developmental timepoints. Colour indicates logFC, with purple indicating increased expression and blue indicating decreased expression in GF mice compared to controls. (J) Venn diagrams illustrating the overlap of significantly different genes (p < 0.05) between GF and CON groups across different developmental timepoints and sexes. Sample size: Young Adulthood: n = 8 mice/group, Early Development: n = 8–10 mice/group. Microbiota; *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, Sex; #p < 0.05, ##p < 0.01. Abbreviations: P: postnatal day, F: females, M: males, GF: germ‐free. Detailed statistical analysis can be found in Supplementary Table