Fig. 5

Metabolic signature in GIT regions of sika deer from birth to postweaning. PCoA of GIT metabolic profiles at KO (a, b, c) and KEGG level 3 (d, e, f) based on Bray-Curtis dissimilarity. ANOSIM analysis was used for statistical testing of group similarities. The proportion of variation explained for each axis is given after colon. g, h, and i PCA of metabolome in five GIT regions. The samples from GIT regions among the three time points indicated as different shapes (rumen: circle, jejunum: triangle, ileum: inverted triangle, cecum: rhombus, and colon: square) and filling color (day 1: gray, day 42: blue, day 70: red) in a, d, and g. j The significantly changed pathways. The circle sizes indicate the relative abundance of each pathway and were colored by GIT regions (rumen: gray, jejunum: light blue, ileum: light green, cecum: pink, and colon: yellow). The significances were determined a Benjamini-Hochberg-adjusted P-value < 0.05 using relative abundances of KEEG level 3. From bottom to top: rumen, jejunum, ileum, cecum, and colon including three time points (day 1: gray, day 42: blue, day 70: red). Full results were supplied in Table S5