Fig. 2

Different distribution of intestinal microbiota in CDI and CDN patients and healthy controls (HCs). a Fecal samples from CDP and CDN patients were collected at the indicated times and tested for the presence of C. difficile. White, black, and gray circles represent C. difficle negative, C. difficile infection, and C. difficle colonization, respectively. b Student’s t test shows differences in the indices of microbial richness and diversity between CDI (n = 15), CDN (n = 16), and HC (n = 12) samples. The data represent the mean value and standard error of each group. *P < 0.05; ***P < 0.001. c Principal coordinates analysis for CDI, CDN, and HC sample groups, with plots based on the Bray–Curtis distance. The horizontal and vertical axes represent 20.7% and 11.04% of the inter-sample variations, respectively. Each point represents a sample, and the colors represent different groups. d Linear discriminant analysis effect size was used to identify essential differences in abundance between CDI, CDN, and HC groups from phylum to genus. Only taxa with a significant LDA threshold value of > 4 are shown. Different-colored regions represent different groups. Circles indicate phylogenetic levels from phylum to genus. The diameter of each circle is proportional to the abundance of the group