Metagenomics indicates an interplay of the microbiome and functional pathways in Parkinson's disease

Sarah Jaehwa Park; Barış Erhan Özdinç; Kathryn Grace Coker; Dana M Walsh; Devon J Fox; Samantha Evans; Joshua Farahnik; Kelly Moffat; Margaret Boomgaarden; Laurie K Mischley

doi:10.1038/s41531-026-01271-5

Metagenomics indicates an interplay of the microbiome and functional pathways in Parkinson's disease

NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2026 Jan 30;12(1):60. doi: 10.1038/s41531-026-01271-5.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Bastyr University Research Institute, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA, USA.
² CosmosID Inc., Germantown, MD, USA.
³ Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research, Shoreline, WA, USA.
⁴ Bastyr University Research Institute, Bastyr University, Kenmore, WA, USA. lmischley@bastyr.edu.
⁵ Parkinson Center for Pragmatic Research, Shoreline, WA, USA. lmischley@bastyr.edu.
⁶ Department of Radiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. lmischley@bastyr.edu.

Abstract

Previous studies suggest there are distinct gut microbial and functional variations in patients with Parkinson's disease (PwPD) that may reveal potential microbiome signatures or biomarkers to aid in early detection of the disease. In this case-control study, we used whole genome sequencing to compare the stool samples of 55 PwPD to 42 healthy controls (HC) from a public database (BioProject Accession PRJEB39223). For bacterial phyla, we observed a greater relative abundance in Firmicutes and Actinobacteria among PwPD, while that of Bacteroidetes was lower. For phages, PwPD had a greater relative abundance of Siphoviridae, Tectiviridae, and Podoviridae, while Microviridae was lower. Moreover, we described 10 functional pathways that most significantly differed between PwPD and HC (all P < 0.0001). In conclusion, significant differences were observed in gut bacteria, phages, and functional pathways between PwPD and HC that both support and conflict with previous case-control studies and warrant further validation.