Murphy, K.M., Watkins, M.M., Finger, J.W., Kelley, M.D., Elsey, R.M., Warner, D.A., Mendonça, M.T. (2022) Xenobiotic estradiol-17ß alters gut microbiota of hatchling American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). Environmental Microbiology, 24(12), 6336–6347. https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16222

In Figure 2B, we report no statistical significance between treatment groups (P > 0.05) using a non-metric multidimensional scaling plot (NMDS) followed by an analysis of similarity (ANOSIM). We later state “Bray–Curtis NMDS showed different patterns of clustering of samples across treatment groups (Figure 2B). However, bacterial community structure did not differ between groups (R = 0.026, p = 0.28), suggesting that microbiomes of each treatment group were similar.”

In the following discussion, we expand on this by stating “One of the most interesting results from our study shows that exposure to a relatively low concentration of E2 increases microbiota absolute abundances but does not influence microbiota diversity. This dose-dependent effect suggests that varying concentrations of E2 may influence microbial community composition, in terms of alpha and beta diversity, in different ways.”

Upon revisiting these analyses, we discovered that the metadata file used to generate the NMDS plot was out of order; meaning, the samples displayed in the published beta diversity plot are not correctly associated to treatment groups. When this file is in the correct order, we found a different pattern in that the experimental groups do significantly differ from the control group.

We would like to issue a correction to Figure 2B and to correct our statement in the results section to read “Bray–Curtis NMDS showed different patterns of clustering of samples across treatment groups (Figure 2B). Indeed, bacterial community structure differs between groups (R = 0.208, p = 0.002), suggesting that microbiomes of each treatment group were distinct from one another.” We would also like to correct the statement in the discussion section to read “One of the most interesting results from our study shows that exposure to rising concentrations of E2 increases microbiota abundances but decreases alpha diversity. Additionally, community composition was distinct between treatment groups. This dose-dependent effect suggests that varying concentrations of E2 may influence microbial community composition in different ways.”

We apologize for this error and even though this result becomes statistically significant after our re-analysis, it has minimal effect on the scientific conclusions of our work.

Original Figure 2B:

Corrected Figure 2B:

Murphy, KM 、 Watkins, MM 、 Finger, JW 、 Kelley, MD 、 Elsey, RM 、 Warner, DA 、 Mendonça, MT ( 2022 )异生雌二醇-17ß 改变美洲短吻鳄幼体（密西西比短吻鳄）的肠道微生物群。环境微生物学， 24 （ 12 ）， 6336-6347 。 https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.16222

在图2B中，我们使用非度量多维标度图（NMDS）和相似性分析（ANOSIM）报告治疗组之间没有统计学显着性（ P >0.05）。我们后来指出“Bray-Curtis NMDS 显示了不同治疗组样本聚类的不同模式（图 2B）。然而，各组之间的细菌群落结构没有差异（R = 0.026，p = 0.28），表明每个治疗组的微生物组相似。”

在下面的讨论中，我们对此进行了扩展，指出“我们研究中最有趣的结果之一表明，暴露于相对较低浓度的 E2 会增加微生物群的绝对丰度，但不会影响微生物群的多样性。这种剂量依赖性效应表明，不同浓度的 E2 可能会以不同的方式影响微生物群落的 α 和 β 多样性组成。”

重新审视这些分析后，我们发现用于生成 NMDS 图的元数据文件出现故障；这意味着，已发布的 beta 多样性图中显示的样本与治疗组没有正确关联。当该文件的顺序正确时，我们发现了不同的模式，实验组与对照组确实存在显着差异。

我们想对图 2B 进行更正，并更正我们在结果部分中的陈述，将其改为“Bray-Curtis NMDS 显示不同治疗组的样本聚类模式不同（图 2B）。事实上，各组之间的细菌群落结构不同（R = 0.208，p = 0.002），这表明每个治疗组的微生物组彼此不同。”我们还想将讨论部分中的陈述更正为“我们研究中最有趣的结果之一表明，暴露于浓度升高的 E2 中会增加微生物群丰度，但会降低 α 多样性。此外，治疗组之间的群落组成也不同。这种剂量依赖性效应表明，不同浓度的 E2 可能以不同的方式影响微生物群落的组成。”

我们对这个错误表示歉意，尽管这个结果在我们重新分析后变得具有统计显着性，但它对我们工作的科学结论的影响微乎其微。

 原始图2B：

 更正图 2B：