Fig. 2

Differential abundance of gut taxa using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. a Differential abundance of gut microbial taxa between S. hispidus vs. S. fulviventer that displayed significant differences (p < 0.05, q < 0.05, l2fc > ±0.65) between host species. The Log2FoldChange is plotted along the x-axis, with genera ranked highest in S. hispidus (black, +l2fc) to highest in S. fulviventer (grey,-l2fc) on the y-axis. Error bars represent the log2 fold change standard error; relative abundances from either S. hispidus or S. fulviventer are denoted next to the corresponding bar. Unclassified phylogenetic levels indicate the lowest possible classification for that specific OTU. b Probability of a gut bacterial genus being selected into a stability selection model distinguishing cotton rat species. The probability of being selected into the model is plotted along the x-axis, with top 20 ranked genera along the y-axis. c Bacterial load depicted as copy number/uL of extracted DNA from normalized cotton rat stool. Data were generated by qPCR; and statistics were performed using unpaired T test. d Amount of aerobic colony forming units (CFU) per gram of feces on both Lactobacillus-selective (MRS) and general growth (TSA) media. S. hispidus displayed a higher amount of aerobic growth using both methods. Significance was calculated by the student’s t-test. e Percentage of CFUs with positive detection of Lactobacillus amplicons determined by PCR with primers targeting the Lactobacillus 16S rRNA region. Species-specific identity of colonies was confirmed by Sanger sequencing. “Other genera” include Bacillus, Enterococcus, and Corynebacterium. f Relative abundance of Lactobacillus between cotton rat body sites. Significance was calculated by the student’s t-test. In the gut, Lactobacillus was one of the higher-abundant taxa with significantly differential abundance between cotton rat species. Figures c-f were generated in Prism 8