Habitual Sleep Duration and the Colonic Mucosa-Associated Gut Microbiota in Humans-A Pilot Study

Abstract

We examined the association between the colonic adherent microbiota and nocturnal sleep duration in humans. In a cross-sectional study, 63 polyp-free adults underwent a colonoscopy and donated 206 mucosal biopsies. The gut microbiota was profiled using the 16S rRNA gene sequencing targeting the V4 region. The sequence reads were processed using UPARSE and DADA2, respectively. Lifestyle factors, including sleep habits, were obtained using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. We categorized the participants into short sleepers (<6 h per night; n = 16) and normal sleepers (6-8 h per night; n = 47) based on self-reported data. Differences in bacterial biodiversity and the taxonomic relative abundance were compared between short vs. normal sleepers, followed by multivariable analysis. A false discovery rate-adjusted p value (q value) < 0.05 indicated statistical significance. The bacterial community composition differed in short and normal sleepers. The relative abundance of Sutterella was significantly lower (0.38% vs. 1.25%) and that of Pseudomonas was significantly higher (0.14% vs. 0.08%) in short sleepers than in normal sleepers (q values < 0.01). The difference was confirmed in the multivariable analysis. Nocturnal sleep duration was associated with the bacterial community composition and structure in the colonic gut microbiota in adults.

Keywords: Sutterella; circadian rhythm; diet; gut microbiome; sleep.

Figure 1

(A) Boxplot of the Shannon index (bacterial alpha diversity) by sleep hours (<6, short sleepers vs. 6–8, normal sleepers). There was no significant difference in bacterial richness and evenness (the Shannon index) (q value = 0.061, Kruskal–Wallis test) between the two groups. (B) Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) with weighted Bray–Curtis dissimilarity shows the bacterial beta diversity differed significantly between the two groups (p value = 0.0001, PERMANOVA test). The centroids of the two groups did not overlap. The fraction of diversity captured by the coordinate was shown as a percentage in the corresponding axis. PC1 and PC2 represent the top two principal coordinates that capture most of the diversity.