Premature gut microbiota variation in the first two month of life.

<p>The gut microbiota variation at class level over 0–60 days of life from all the samples is visualized by NMDS plot. The color gradient from red to blue represents the day of life of the babies. The microbiota from early day of life is distinguished from the elder days.</p

NMDS of early and late onset NEC and controls at the genus level.

<p>The difference between NEC and controls is displayed for early onset NEC (Fig. 2A) and late onset NEC (Fig. 2B) with their controls by NMDS plot. Each dot represents one sample. Green dots represent the controls and red dots represent the NEC samples. Early NEC subjects and control subjects have a clear separation at second week of the life. The distinction between late onset NEC and controls is less obvious except at the third week of life.</p

Microbiota progression before early onset NEC and late onset NEC at class and genus level.

<p>The relative abundances of four most dominant classes (Fig. 3A-early onset at class level, 3B-late onset at class level) and the genera (Fig. 3C-early onset at genus level, 3D-late onset at genus level) that are significantly different between NEC and controls are plotted at 7–9 days, 4–6 days and 1–3 days prior to NEC onset. In early onset NEC category, 3,6, 8 NEC samples were included at 7–9 days, 4–6 days and 1–3 days; 8, 5, 6 control samples were included in the above time points. In late onset NEC category, 7, 7,10 NEC samples and 6, 8, 4 control samples were included in the above time points. Red and green of the boxplots indicate NEC and control samples, respectively. The asterisks indicate the significant difference between NEC and control.</p