Fig. 3

Alteration of microbiota transmission by cross-fostering causes the gut microbiota composition and glycometabolic phenotype of offspring to trend toward those of their foster mother. a Cross-fostering animal model and experimental design. b, c Blood glucose and serum insulin levels and AUCs during the OGTT, respectively. d Changes in blood glucose levels (% of initial) and AUCs during the ITT. e, f The amount of insulin secretion upon stimulation with 3.3 mmol/L (low) and 16.7 mmol/L (high) glucose and the GSI of islets isolated from pancreatic tissues of offspring of the mHF (HF and HF-CF) and offspring of the mNC (NC and NC-CF) groups, respectively. g, h Pdx-1 and MafA mRNA expression levels in pancreatic tissues of offspring of the mHF (HF and HF-CF) and offspring of the mNC (NC and NC-CF) groups, respectively. Data are presented as the mean ± SD; *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. i Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of the four offspring groups on the first two principal coordinates was performed based on the Jaccard distance. Each point represents one mouse. Comparisons were performed using the Kruskal–Wallis test for significant differences; *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. j Identification of major amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) contributing to the differences in the gut microbiota of offspring groups delineated by CF using LEfSe. k, l Volcano plots represent the differences in faecal metabolite levels induced by CF in offspring of the mNC or mHF group. m Spearman’s correlation network of the offspring gut microbiota, faecal metabolites and glycometabolic profiles. The colour represents positive (red) or negative (blue) correlations. HF (n=10): offspring delivered by the mHF group; NC (n=10): offspring delivered by the mNC group; HF-CF (n=10): offspring delivered by the mHF group and cross-fostered by the mNC group; NC-CF (n=10): offspring delivered by mNC and cross-fostered by the mHF group