Fig. 7

Heatmap of correlations between gut microbiota species, somatic and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Heatmap illustrating the Spearman’s correlation coefficients between the centered log-ratio (CLR) transformed abundances of gut microbial species and scores from four assessments: PHQ-15 (somatic symptoms), PSS (perceived stress), HADS-A (anxiety), and HADS-D (depression). The color scale represents the strength and direction of correlations, with red indicating positive correlations and blue indicating negative correlations. The intensity of the color corresponds to the magnitude of the correlation, as shown in the legend on the right (ranging from − 0.25 to 0.25). P-values are less than 0.05 displayed on corresponding cells, indicating statistical significance. Blank cells represent correlations that did not meet the significance threshold. Bacterial species are listed on the y-axis, while the mental health scales are shown on the x-axis. This visualization allows for identifying specific microbial species that may have consistent or unique associations with different aspects of mental health as measured by these indicators. Notable correlations include positive associations between Mitsuokella jalaludinii and all measurements, and negative associations between several species (e.g., Christensenella massiliensis, Lachnospiraceae bacterium GAM79) and PHQ-15 scores