Fig. 3

Analysis of the α- and β- diversity indices between PN group and HC group. (A) Comparison of Sobs index between PN group and HC group. Wilcoxon rank sum test, P = 0.0001667). (B) Comparison of Shannon index between PN group and HC group. Wilcoxon rank sum test, P = 0.005309). (C) Scatter plot of the comparison of β diversity analysis conducted with PCoA between PN group and HC group. Samples from the PN group and HC group are tightly clustered and separated from each other on the plot, it suggests that there are distinct microbial community differences between the two groups. (D) Scatter plot of the comparison of β diversity analysis conducted with NMDS between PN group and HC group. The plot represents the distribution and clustering patterns of samples based on their microbial composition. Each point represents a sample, and the position of the points reflects the dissimilarity in microbial composition between samples. A larger distance indicates a greater dissimilarity, while a shorter distance suggests a higher similarity in microbial composition