A single nucleotide polymorphism in the HOMER1 gene is associated with sleep latency and theta power in sleep electroencephalogram

Glutamate is the most excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system and it is involved in the initiation and maintaining of waking and rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep. Homer proteins act in the trafficking and/or clustering of metabotropic glutamate receptors, and polymorphisms in the HOMER1 gene have been associated with phenotypes related to glutamate signaling dysregulation. In this study, we report the association of a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the HOMER1 gene (rs3822568) with specific aspects of sleep in a sample of the Brazilian population. To accomplish this, 1,042 individuals were subjected to a full-night polysomnography, and a subset of 983 subjects had rs3822568 genotyping data available. When compared with the A allele carriers, GG genotyped individuals showed higher sleep latency, lower sleep efficiency, reduced number of arousals per hour, lower apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and lower theta spectral power. In summary, the present findings suggest that the rs3822568 polymorphism in the HOMER1 gene is associated with sleep EEG profiles and might have an impact on sleep quality and sleep structure, with potential to explain inter-individual variation in sleep homeostasis.