Metagenomic analysis on fecal samples retrieved from female C57BL6 mice infected with Candida albicans. MetaFungal

Female C57BL6 mice (aged 8-12 weeks) were obtained from Charles River laboratories. Each group of mice (n = 4) was assigned at random, housed separately in individual ventilated cages, provided with food and water ad libitum and adapted to standardized environmental conditions (temperature, 23 ± 2 oC; humidity, 55 ± 10%; 12 h light/dark cycles) for at least 1 week before the beginning of each experiment. Five groups of mice were provided with sterile drinking water containing 2 mg/mL streptomycin and 1 mg/mL ampicillin four days before exposure to C. albicans strains and maintained on antibiotic treatment until the end of the experiment. As a control experiment, another five groups of mice did not receive any treatment. Each experiment (except control, untreated groups) was repeated twice (n = 8). Mice were gavaged with C. albicans cells and sacrificed after seven days of exposure. Faecal samples were retrieved at several time points before and after Candida infection. Total genomic DNA was isolated from stool samples using QIAamp PowerFecal Pro DNA Kit (Quiagen) according to manufacturer’s instructions. The amplicon library was paired-end sequenced (2×250) on an Illumina novaseq6000 (Beijing Biomarker Technologies Co).