People who have uploaded their (or their children) samples have annotated some with easily irritated. On my main blog, I have been doing a series of deep statistical dives on my main microbiome blog site, and checked it the data available reaches the threshold for inclusion as defined in A new specialized selection of suggestions links (A summary table of various studies has been added there).
I am posting here to since it is a blog focused on Autism and easily irritated is a common symptom.
Study Populations:
| Symptom | Reference | Study |
| Easily irritated | 1108 | 55 |
- Bacteria Detected with z-score > 2.6: found 146 items, highest value was 9.9
- Enzymes Detected with z-score > 2.6: found 896 items, highest value was 5.9
- Compound Detected with z-score > 2.6: found ZERO items
For the number of samples, the z-score for bacteria are unusually high compared to other studies in the series. A high z-score means strong statistical significance. Enzymes has a huge numbers detected without any extreme values – this is interesting but unsure on how to interpret that.
Interesting Significant Bacteria
- All bacteria found significant had too low levels
The most significant ones are listed below. I should point out that these bacteria may not be the cause, rather they may be ‘the canaries in the coal mine’ of the microbiome. These studies’ methodology determines association and not causality.
| Bacteria | Reference Mean | Study | Z-Score |
| Prevotella oulorum (species) | 63 | 17 | 9.9 |
| Prevotella copri (species) | 65522 | 9089 | 8.8 |
| Clostridium malenominatum (species) | 57 | 22 | 6.3 |
| Pediococcus (genus) | 112 | 48 | 6.1 |
| Phocaeicola coprocola (species) | 7544 | 45 | 6.1 |
| Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (species) | 57 | 19 | 6 |
| Opitutae (class) | 169 | 43 | 5.8 |
| Puniceicoccaceae (family) | 163 | 40 | 5.8 |
| Lactiplantibacillus pentosus (species) | 122 | 17 | 5.8 |
| Bifidobacterium cuniculi (species) | 81 | 25 | 5.7 |
| Cerasicoccus arenae (species) | 552 | 87 | 5.5 |
| Prevotella (genus) | 73346 | 26681 | 5.5 |
| Puniceicoccales (order) | 114 | 35 | 5.4 |
| Veillonella (genus) | 4004 | 1945 | 5.4 |
| Cerasicoccus (genus) | 319 | 56 | 5.3 |
| Tenericutes (phylum) | 3138 | 1053 | 5.1 |
Interesting Enzymes
The first 100 enzymes (of 800+) found significant had too low levels.
| Enzyme | Reference Mean | Study Mean | Z-Score |
| propanoyl-CoA:NADP+ oxidoreductase (1.3.1.84) | 29 | 10 | 5.9 |
| S-methyl-5′-thioadenosine:phosphate S-methyl-5-thio-alpha-D-ribosyl-transferase (2.4.2.28) | 3653 | 1426 | 5.8 |
| 3-oxo-Delta1-steroid:acceptor 1-oxidoreductase (1.17.99.11) | 28 | 10 | 5.7 |
| cholest-4-en-3-one:acceptor oxidoreductase (25-hydroxylating) (1.17.99.10) | 28 | 10 | 5.7 |
| n/a (3.4.24.20) | 40 | 16 | 5.2 |
| malonyl-CoA:acetate malonyltransferase (tetracenomycin-F2-forming) (2.3.1.235) | 41 | 11 | 5.2 |
| malonyl-CoA:malonamoyl-[OxyC acyl-carrier protein] malonyltransferase (2.3.1.260) | 41 | 11 | 5.2 |
| NADPH:acceptor oxidoreductase (1.6.99.1) | 5726 | 2382 | 4.8 |
I will leave it to the reader to go to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes to learn about these enzymes (a steep learning curve).
The top item S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe), had significant literature associated with it, a few samples:
- “S-adenosyl methionine prevents ASD like behaviors triggered by…” [2019]
- “S-Adenosyl-Methionine alleviates sociability aversion and reduces changes in gene expression in a mouse model of social hierarchy” [2022]
- “Blood biomarker levels of methylation capacity in autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis” [2020] – decrease SAMe in blood
| Enzyme | Reference Mean | Study Mean | Z-Score |
| S-adenosyl-L-methionine:23S rRNA (guanine2535-N1)-methyltransferase (2.1.1.209) | 151 | 70 | 7.6 |
| GDP-alpha-D-rhamnose:NAD(P)+ 4-oxidoreductase (1.1.1.281) | 481 | 120 | 6.4 |
| ATP:D-galacturonate 1-phosphotransferase (2.7.1.44) | 506 | 120 | 5.7 |
| NAD+:poly(ADP-D-ribosyl)-acceptor ADP-D-ribosyl-transferase (2.4.2.30) | 505 | 120 | 5.6 |
| beta-D-galactosyl-(1->4)-L-rhamnose:phosphate 1-alpha-D-galactosyltransferase (2.4.1.247) | 505 | 120 | 5.6 |
| delta/gamma-tocopherol lyase (ring-opening) (5.5.1.24) | 703 | 213 | 5.6 |
| all-trans-heptaprenyl-diphosphate diphosphate-lyase (cyclizing, tetraprenyl-beta-curcumene-forming) (4.2.3.130) | 304 | 157 | 4.7 |
| CDP-diacylglycerol:myo-inositol 3-phosphatidyltransferase (2.7.8.11) | 133 | 88 | 4.6 |
| Hg:NADP+ oxidoreductase (1.16.1.1) | 774 | 195 | 4.6 |
| ferredoxin:dinitrogen oxidoreductase (ATP-hydrolysing, molybdenum-dependent) (1.18.6.1) | 2930 | 1478 | 4.4 |
| myo-inositol-hexakisphosphate 4-phosphohydrolase (3.1.3.26) | 2163 | 1074 | 4.2 |
| phenol,NADPH:oxygen oxidoreductase (2-hydroxylating) (1.14.13.7) | 326 | 51 | 4.1 |
| 1,2-beta-D-glucan:phosphate alpha-D-glucosyltransferase (2.4.1.333) | 264 | 128 | 4 |
| acetyl-CoA:2-oxoglutarate C-acetyltransferase (thioester-hydrolysing, carboxymethyl-forming) (2.3.3.14) | 936 | 341 | 4 |
Cross Validation To Literature
The term “irritability” on PubMed often links to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), making this difficult. The closest proxy appears to be stress (most people that are stressed tend to be irritable…) and there was some matches. We have agreement on the following being low.
- Atopobium
- Lactiplantibacillus plantarum
- Anaeroplasma
- Coriobacterium
- Tenericutes
Bottom Line
Lactiplantibacillus plantarum is the modern name for Lactobacillus Plantarum, a commonly available probiotic.