title: 16S rRNA from caecum content
design: caecum was harvested and immediately snap-frozen and stored at -80C prior to the analysis. DNA was extracted using the Qiagen QIAmp Fast DNA Stool Mini Kit coupled with an initial bead-beating step. The V3-V4 hypervariable region of the 16S rRNA gene was amplified and prepared for sequencing as outlined in the Illumina 16S Metagenomic Sequencing Library protocol. Samples were sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq platform using a 200-250 bp kit.