Zearalenone-induced aberration in gut microbiome composition and function are associated with degeneration in ovary reserve

We applied metagenomic shotgun sequencing to investigate the effects of ZEA exposure on the change of mouse gut microbiota composition and function. Overall design: In this study, different doses of ZEA solution was intragastrically administrated to the mice according to the body weight (0, 20, 40 µg/kg/ bw/day) for 2 weeks, the mice in control group received the same volume of diluted solution. Two weeks after the final gavage, five mice in each group were randomly selected and the mouse cecum contents were collected into 1.5 ml sterile microcentrifuge tubes separately, then sent to Novogene Co. Ltd. (Beijing, China) at low temperatures quickly after liquid nitrogen flash freezer.