A genome-wide association study reveals the relationship between human genetic variation and the nasal microbiome

Xiaomin Liu, Xin Tong, Leying Zou, Yanmei Ju, Mingliang Liu, Mo Han, Haorong Lu, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Yang Zong, Weibin Liu, Xun Xu, Xin Jin, Liang Xiao, Huijue Jia, Ruijin Guo*, Tao Zhang

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

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Abstract

The nasal cavity harbors diverse microbiota that contributes to human health and respiratory diseases. However, whether and to what extent the host genome shapes the nasal microbiome remains largely unknown. Here, by dissecting the human genome and nasal metagenome data from 1401 healthy individuals, we demonstrated that the top three host genetic principal components strongly correlated with the nasal microbiota diversity and composition. The genetic association analyses identified 63 genome-wide significant loci affecting the nasal microbial taxa and functions, of which 2 loci reached study-wide significance (p < 1.7 × 10-10): rs73268759 within CAMK2A associated with genus Actinomyces and family Actinomycetaceae; and rs35211877 near POM121L12 with Gemella asaccharolytica. In addition to respiratory-related diseases, the associated loci are mainly implicated in cardiometabolic or neuropsychiatric diseases. Functional analysis showed the associated genes were most significantly expressed in the nasal airway epithelium tissue and enriched in the calcium signaling and hippo signaling pathway. Further observational correlation and Mendelian randomization analyses consistently suggested the causal effects of Serratia grimesii and Yokenella regensburgei on cardiometabolic biomarkers (cystine, glutamic acid, and creatine). This study suggested that the host genome plays an important role in shaping the nasal microbiome.

Original languageEnglish
Article number139
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume7
Issue number1
Number of pages15
ISSN2399-3642
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2024
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We sincerely thank the support provided by China National GeneBank. We thank all the volunteers for their time and for self-collecting the oral samples using our kit. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32200548).

Funding Information:
We sincerely thank the support provided by China National GeneBank. We thank all the volunteers for their time and for self-collecting the oral samples using our kit. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32200548).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, The Author(s).

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