Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 22, 2025
08:14
A Method to Define the Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Colon Microbiome Biodiversity in a Mouse Colon Tumor Model
Published on: February 28, 2018
8.8K
Causality Investigation between Gut Microbiome and Sleep-Related Traits: A Bidirectional Two-Sample Mendelian
Mingxia Zhai1, Weichen Song1,2, Zhe Liu1
1Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, School of Biomedical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China.
Genes
|June 27, 2024
Summary
This study used Mendelian randomization to investigate gut microbes and sleep. Findings suggest the pentose phosphate pathway impacts sleep duration and fatty acid levels influence waking ease.
Area of Science:
- Microbiome research
- Sleep science
- Genetics
Background:
- Emerging research links gut microbes to sleep patterns.
- Causal relationships between the gut microbiome and sleep traits remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate bidirectional causal effects between gut microbial traits and sleep-associated traits.
- To identify specific microbial taxa and pathways influencing sleep.
Main Methods:
- Bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.
- Utilized genome-wide association studies (GWAS) data for 412 gut microbiome traits and 7 sleep traits.
- Employed Inverse Variance Weighted (IVW) method with Bonferroni correction, alongside sensitivity analyses (Cochran's Q, MR-Egger, MR-PRESSO).
Main Results:
- Identified 79 potential causal effects from microbes on sleep and 45 inverse effects.
- Found genetically determined pentose phosphate pathway abundance decreases sleep duration (p=9.00 × 10⁻⁵).
- Found genetically determined fatty acid levels increase ease of waking (p=8.06 × 10⁻⁵).
Conclusions:
- Provides evidence for causal links between specific gut microbial pathways and sleep.
- Highlights the role of the pentose phosphate pathway and fatty acid metabolism in sleep regulation.
- Suggests potential therapeutic targets within the gut microbiome for sleep disorders.
Related Concept Videos
02:20Correlations
32.8K
Correlation means that there is a relationship between two or more variables (such as ice cream consumption and crime), but this relationship does not necessarily imply cause and effect. When two variables are correlated, it simply means that as one variable changes, so does the other. We can measure correlation by calculating a statistic known as a correlation coefficient. A correlation coefficient is a number from -1 to +1 that indicates the strength and direction of the relationship between...
32.8K
01:53Cause and Effect
10.9K
While variables are sometimes correlated because one does cause the other, it could also be that some other factor, a confounding variable, is actually causing the systematic movement in our variables of interest. For instance, as sales in ice cream increase, so does the overall rate of crime. Is it possible that indulging in your favorite flavor of ice cream could send you on a crime spree? Or, after committing crime do you think you might decide to treat yourself to a cone?
10.9K
01:11Genome-wide Association Studies-GWAS
13.3K
Genome-wide association studies or GWAS are used to identify whether common SNPs are associated with certain diseases. Suppose specific SNPs are more frequently observed in individuals with a particular disease than those without the disease. In that case, those SNPs are said to be associated with the disease. Chi-square analysis is performed to check the probability of the allele likely to be associated with the disease.
GWAS does not require the identification of the target gene involved in...
GWAS does not require the identification of the target gene involved in...
13.3K
02:07Blind Procedures
10.6K
Ideally, the people who observe and record the children’s behavior are unaware of who was assigned to the experimental or control group, in order to control for experimenter bias. Experimenter bias refers to the possibility that a researcher’s expectations might skew the results of the study. Remember, conducting an experiment requires a lot of planning, and the people involved in the research project have a vested interest in supporting their hypotheses. If the observers knew which...
10.6K