Fig. 1.

WASP deficiency results in altered composition of the fecal microbiota. A–C Fecal microbial composition of Was^−/− (n = 5) and WT (n = 3) mice raised under SPF conditions with weekly bedding exchanges was analyzed monthly between 4 and 20 weeks of age by 16S rRNA gene sequencing. A Compositional dissimilarity between mice of the same genotype compared to mice of different genotypes was assessed by Bray-Curtis distance. Relative abundances of Mucispirillum (B) and H. bilis (C) were determined for each genotype at each timepoint. D SPF Was^−/− mice were re-derived in a Helicobacter species free environment (n = 14), and a subset was infected with H. bilis (n = 9). Fecal microbial composition was assessed at 7–9 months post infection. Principal coordinate analysis of Bray-Curtis distances was performed after H. bilis sequences were removed from the dataset. Statistics performed using PERMANOVA (A and D) and Student’s t-test (B and C). *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01