Preliminary Insights Into the Relationship Between the Gut Microbiome and Host Genome in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder

Abstract

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may develop following trauma exposure; however, not all trauma-exposed individuals develop PTSD, suggesting the presence of susceptibility and resilience factors. The gut microbiome and host genome, which are interconnected, have been implicated in the aetiology of PTSD. However, their interaction has yet to be investigated in a South African population. Using genome-wide genotype data and 16S rRNA (V4) gene amplicon sequencing data from 53 trauma-exposed controls and 74 PTSD cases, we observed no significant association between the host genome and summed abundance of Mitsuokella, Odoribacter, Catenibacterium and Olsenella, previously reported as associated with PTSD status in this cohort. However, PROM2 rs2278067 T-allele was significantly positively associated with the summed relative abundance of these genera, but only in individuals with PTSD and not trauma-exposed controls (p < 0.014). Polygenic risk scores generated using genome-wide association study summary statistics from the PGC-PTSD Overall Freeze 2 were not predictive of gut microbial composition in this cohort. These preliminary results suggest a potential role for the interaction between genetic variation and gut microbial composition in the context of PTSD, underscoring the need for further investigation.