Fig. 1

The deletion of EphB6 led to autism-like behavior and gut microbial disturbance in mice. a The 8-week-old male KO mice spent more time self-grooming than WT mice. n = 17 mice for each group. b In social partition test, KO mice spent less time sniffing the partition than WT mice. n = 10, 11 mice respectively. c–h In three-chambered social approach task, time spent in chambers during different 10-min trials (c–e), trajectory diagram during the second 10-min trial (f) were showed. KO mice showed less preference for the social mouse over the object (g) and less preference for the novel social mouse over the familiar social mouse (h) than WT mice. n = 10, 9 mice respectively. i In olfactory habituation/dishabituation test, KO mice spent less time sniffing social odors than WT mice. n = 11 mice for each group. j In elevated plus maze test, KO mice spent less time in open arm and more time in closed arm than WT mice. n = 12, 13 mice respectively. k The intestinal permeability of 8-week-old WT and KO mice was detected using FITC-dextran. n = 4 mice for each group. l The mRNA expressions of tight junction molecules were detected in colon of 8-week-old WT and KO mice. n = 7, 6 mice respectively. m The mRNA expressions of cytokines were detected in colon of 8-week-old WT and KO mice. n = 4, 5 mice respectively. n–r 16S rRNA gene sequencing of gut microbiota of 8-week-old WT and KO mice. The species richness (n) and diversity (o) of gut microbiota were similar, while the microbial composition (p) was different between the two groups. Relative abundance of different bacteria in phylum level was showed (q). At genus level, the relative abundance of Mucispirillumn was decreased in KO mice (r). n = 8 mice for each group. Data shown are mean ± SEM or median ± IQR. Two-tailed unpaired student’s t test (a, c–e, g–h, j–m), Mann-Whitney test (n–o, q, r), mixed design ANOVA with genotype as independent factor and stimuli/trials as repeated-measure factor (b, i), anosim analysis (p). *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. WT EphB6^+/+ mice, KO EphB6^−/− mice, FITC fluorescein isothiocyanate. Statistical values are presented in Additional file 3: Table S2