2017 ACVIM Forum Research Abstract Program

A total of 9,118,609 sequences passed all filters, with a median of 93,909 sequences per sample (range: 50,315 to 207,127 sequences/sample). Relative abundance of different taxa was calculated, and compared between time points, with no significant differences (P > 0.05 for all taxa between time points, following the Benjamini-Hochberg adjustment). Alpha-diversity indexes (Shannon diversity, Simpson diversity and Chao1) were used to evaluate evenness, diversity and richness respectively, and no significant differences were identified (P > 0.05 for all comparisons). Beta-diversity measurements were applied to assess similarity in community membership and structure. Phylogenetic trees were created, to visually present community membership and structure (Jaccard and Yue & Clayton indexes, respectively) over time between cats, and no significant differences were identified (parsimony and unifrac-unweighted tests, P > 0.05). Principal coordinate analyses were performed and showed that samples cluster mainly by cat, with no significant differences between time points (AMOVA, P > 0.05; HOMOVA, P > 0.05). Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) method was performed to identify genomic features, such as enriched taxa, between time points. LEfSe analysis failed to detect any differences between groups. Random forest algorithm analysis identified a 92% error rate, indicating homogeneity across time points.