Yu XH, Yang YQ, Cao RR, et al. - The results demonstrate that several microbial taxa were causally correlated with diverse joint osteoarthritis (OA). The outcomes increased our understanding of gut microbiota in the pathology of OA.

• After correction, they distinguished three microbial taxa that were causally correlated with diverse joint OA (P_FDR < 0.100), namely Methanobacteriaceae family for knee OA (P_FDR = 0.043) and any OA (P_FDR = 0.028), Desulfovibrionales order for knee OA (P_FDR = 0.045) and Ruminiclostridium5 genus for knee OA (P_FDR = 0.063).

• Five suggestive microbial taxa were also distinguished that were significant with three different methods under the nominal significance (P < 0.05).

• According to the findings, the sensitive analysis excluded the influence of heterogeneity and horizontal pleiotropy and multivariable Mendelian randomization analysis ruled out the possibility of horizontal pleiotropy of BMI.

• Furthermore, GO enrichment analysis demonstrates the protective mechanism of the distinguished taxa against OA.