Figure 3

Distribution of bacterial phylotypes in the cecum content and fecal pellets of mice exposed for 8 weeks to Cd (20 or 100 ppm) or Pb (100 or 500 ppm) salts via their drinking water. 16S rRNA-base analyses were derived from 454/Roche multitag pyrosequencing. Data are expressed as the mean percentage abundance of the total assignment (n = 5 animals per group). In line with the literature data, most of the bacteria in untreated (control) mice belonged to Firmicutes or the Bacteroidetes, whereas Actinobacteria were very rare.