Sex differences in the oral microbiome, host traits, and their causal relationships
Xiaomin Liu, Xin Tong, Zhuye Jie, Jie Zhu, Liu Tian, Qiang Sun, Yanmei Ju, Leying Zou, Haorong Lu, Xuemei Qiu, Qiang Li, Yunli Liao, Heng Lian, Yong Zuo, Xiaomin Chen, Weiqiao Rao, Yan Ren, Yuan Wang, Jin Zi, Rong Wang, Xun Xu, Huanming Yang, Jian Wang, Yang Zong, Weibin Liu, Yong Hou, Xin Jin, Liang Xiao, Karsten Kristiansen, Huijue Jia, Tao Zhang
Abstract
). Furthermore, we performed sex-stratified Mendelian randomization (MR) analyses and identified abundant causalities between the oral microbiome and serum metabolites. Notably, sex-specific microbes-hormonal interactions explained the mostly observed sex hormones differences such as the significant causalities enrichments for aldosterone in females and androstenedione in males. These findings illustrate the necessity of sex stratification and deepen our understanding of the interplay between the oral microbiome and serum metabolites.