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To enhance recovery, athletes often consume ready-to-eat foods, specialized sports foods and/or supplements that belong to the group of ultra-processed foods (UPFs), which may affect their health. The aim of this study was to estimate consumption of UPFs in basketball players and to determine whether there is a difference in anthropometric characteristics, neuromuscular and cardiovascular fitness and microbiota composition between players in relation to the proportion of daily energy from processed foods. The study involved 17 elite male basketball players (>18 years) from Croatia during the competitive season. After cluster analysis of daily energy contribution from NOVA food groups, 35% of players were clustered into higher UPFs consumption group. No differences in anthropometric characteristics, neuromuscular and cardiovascular fitness were observed between players who consumed more UPFs and those who consumed less UPFs. Players with higher consumption of UPFs had lower abundance of the order Veillonellales-Selenomonadales in their respective microbiotas, more precisely, of family Veillonellaceae (p = 0.040) and the genus Agathobacter (p = 0.025). These results suggest that the consumption of UPFs did not affect athletes' performance but does impact their gut microbiota. Further studies on this issue are warranted to establish nutritional guidelines for athletes regarding the consumption of UPFs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) are essential components of cellular detoxification system. We identified and characterized seven new cytochrome P450 gene transcript clusters in the populations of bivalve mollusc Mytilus galloprovincialis from three different locations. The phylogenetic analysis identified all transcripts as clusters within the CYP4 branch. Identified clusters, each comprising a number of transcript variants, were designated CYP4Y1, Y2, Y3, Y4, Y5, Y6 and Y7. Transcript clusters CYP4Y2 and Y7, and CYP4Y5 and Y6 showed site specificity, while the transcript clusters CYP4Y1, Y3 and Y4 were present at all investigated locations. The comparison of transcripts deduced amino acid sequences with CYP4s from vertebrate and invertebrate species showed high conservation of the residues and domains essential to the putative function of the enzyme, as terminal ω-hydroxylation and prostaglandin hydroxylation. Our results suggest the great expansion of the CYP4Y cDNAs indicative of CYP4 proteins in the mussel M. galloprovincialis presumably as a response to different environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Crayfish exoskeleton microbiomes were significantly affected by the environment. • Exoskeleton microbiomes of native and invasive crayfish shared a large proportion of taxa. • Composition and abundance of microbial taxa were species-specific. • Low loads of A. astaci and S. parasitica pathogens were detected on both crayfish species. Host-associated microbial communities are an important determinant of individual fitness and have recently been highlighted as one of the factors influencing the success of invasive species. Invasive hosts introduce their microbes into the new environment, and then both the host and its associated microbes enter into a series of interactions with the native macroscopic and microscopic biota. As these processes are largely unexplored, we aimed to compare the exoskeletal microbial communities of co-occurring and phylogenetically related crayfish: the native narrow-clawed crayfish Pontastacus leptodactylus and the invasive signal crayfish Pacifastacus leniusculus from the recently invaded Korana River, Croatia. The results of high-throughput 16S rRNA sequencing showed that the exoskeletal microbiome of both species is very diverse, significantly influenced by the local environment and dominated by low abundance bacterial families from the phylum Proteobacteria. Furthermore, the exoskeletal microbiomes of the crayfish species differed significantly in the composition and abundance of Amplicon Sequence Variants (ASVs), suggesting that they are to some extent shaped by species-specific intrinsic factors, despite sharing a common habitat. However, over 95% of the bacterial genera associated with the exoskeleton were detected in the exoskeleton samples of both native and invasive crayfish. We paid particular attention to two known crayfish pathogens, Aphanomyces astaci and Saprolegnia parasitica , and find that both species carry low amounts of both pathogens. On the side, we find that a non-standard ddPCR protocol outperforms standard qPCR test for A. astaci under low concentration conditions. Taken together, our results indicate the possibility of bidirectional mixing and homogenisation of exoskeleton microbiome. As such, they can serve as a baseline in future detangling of the processes that act together to shape the microbiomes of co-occuring native and invasive congeners during biological invasions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We evaluated the functional capacity of plantaricin-producing Lactobacillus plantarum SF9C and S-layer-carrying Lactobacillus brevis SF9B to withstand gastrointestinal transit and to compete among the gut microbiota in vivo. Considering the probiotic potential of Lb. brevis SF9B, this study aims to investigate the antibacterial activity of Lb. plantarum SF9C and their potential for in vivo colonisation in rats, which could be the basis for the investigation of their synergistic functionality. Results: A plantaricin-encoding cluster was identified in Lb. plantarum SF9C, a strain which efficiently inhibited the growth of Listeria monocytogenes ATCC® 19111™ and Staphylococcus aureus 3048. Homology-based three-dimensional (3D) structures of SF9C plantaricins PlnJK and PlnEF were predicted using SWISS-MODEL workspace and the helical wheel representations of the plantaricin peptide helices were generated by HELIQUEST. Contrary to the plantaricin-producing SF9C strain, the S-layer-carrying SF9B strain excluded Escherichia coli 3014 and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium FP1 from the adhesion to Caco-2 cells. Finally, PCR-DGGE analysis of the V2–V3 regions of the 16S rRNA gene confirmed the transit of the two selected lactobacilli through the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). Microbiome profiling via the Illumina MiSeq platform revealed the prevalence of Lactobacillus spp. in the gut microbiota of the Lactobacillus-treated rats, even on the 10th day after the Lactobacillus application, compared to the microbiota of the healthy and AlCl3-exposed rats before Lactobacillus treatment. Conclusion: The combined application of Lb. plantarum SF9C and Lb. brevis SF9B was able to influence the intestinal microbiota composition in rats, which was reflected in the increased abundance of Lactobacillus genus, but also in the altered abundances of other bacterial genera, either in the model of healthy or aberrant gut microbiota of rats. The antibacterial activity and capacity to withstand in GIT conditions contributed to the functional aspects of SF9C and SF9B strains that could be incorporated in the probiotic-containing functional foods with a possibility to positively modulate the gut microbiota composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]