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Dietary patterns play an important role in regards to the modulation and control of the gut microbiome composition and function. The interaction between diet and microbiota plays an important role in order to maintain intestinal homeostasis, which ultimately affect the host's health. Diet directly impacts the microbes that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract (GIT), which then contributes to the production of secondary metabolites, such as short‐chain fatty acids, neurotransmitters, and antimicrobial peptides. Dietary consumption with genetically modified probiotics can be the best vaccine delivery vector and protect cells from various illnesses. A holistic approach to disease prevention, treatment, and management takes these intrinsically linked diet‐microbes, microbe–microbe interactions, and microbe–host interactions into account. Dietary components, such as fiber can modulate beneficial gut microbiota, and they have resulting ameliorative effects against metabolic disorders. Medical interventions, such as antibiotic drugs can conversely have detrimental effects on gut microbiota by disputing the balance between Bacteroides and firmicute, which contribute to continuing disease states. We summarize the known effects of various dietary components, such as fibers, carbohydrates, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, proteins, phenolic acids, and antibiotics on the composition of the gut microbiota in this article in addition to the beneficial effect of genetically modified probiotics and consequentially their role in regards to shaping human health. © 2024 The Authors. Journal of The Science of Food and Agriculture published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the Monascus purpureus (MTCC 369) extracted biopigment produced by solid‐state fermentation was evaluated for its therapeutic potential using human prostate LNCaP cells. Antioxidant efficacy of the red biopigment determined using 2,2 diphenyl‐1‐picrylhydrazyl, 2,2′‐azino‐bis(3‐ethylbenzothiazoline‐6‐sulfonic acid, and ferric reducing antioxidant power assays was found to be 53.16%, 86.27%, and 13.83%, respectively. In addition, expression studies of target gene superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD‐2) showed that increasing concentrations (10–50 μg/ml) of the biopigment enhanced its expression from 0.91‐ to 1.905‐fold. An inhibitory effect of 0.424–0.627‐fold was observed in the expression of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) with a similar increase in biopigment concentration. Addition of quercetin (positive control) at 50 μg/ml led to 0.295‐fold decrease in GPX expression. In contrast, the expression of SOD‐2 increased by 1.026‐fold in the presence of quercetin. The biopigment also showed an increased serological IL‐10 expression (an anti‐inflammatory agent) ranging from 1034.58 to 4657.89 pg/ml. Treatment of LNCaP cells with the red biopigment (10–100 μg/ml) resulted in significant (p <.05) reduction (upto 79.86%) in viability and 51.79%–89.86% reduction in cell metabolic activity. Fluorescent microscopy examination of red biopigment‐treated cells showed significant inhibition of normal cellular morphology including condensed nuclei, membrane blebbing, and apoptotic bodies, thus confirming its cytotoxic potential. Results of this study revealed that the red biopigment has the potential to modulate the expression of antioxidative and anti‐inflammatory markers in addition to being cytotoxic to the LNCaP cancer cells. Practical applications: These findings indicate that cell treatment with red biopigment has the potential to modulate anti‐oxidative, pro‐inflammatory and anti‐inflammatory genes for therapeutic effects, which is further enhanced by its cytotoxic activity against cancer cells. Considering these cell‐based observations, Monascus red biopigment has ample potential as a useful supplement to formulate therapeutic products that delay the development of inflammatory‐related diseases and associated complications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the leading type of dementia in aging people and is a progressive condition that causes neurodegeneration, resulting in confusion, memory loss, and deterioration of mental functions. AD happens because of abnormal twisting of the microtubule tau protein in neurons into a tangled neurofibrillary structure. Different factors responsible for AD pathogenesis include heavy metals, aging, cardiovascular disease, and environmental and genetic factors. Market available drugs for AD have several side effects that include hepato‐toxicity, accelerated cognitive decline, worsened neuropsychiatric symptoms, and triggered suicidal ideation. Therefore, an emerging alternative therapeutic approach is probiotics, which can improve AD by modulating the gut‐brain axis. Probiotics modulate different neurochemical pathways by regulating the signalling pathways associated with inflammation, histone deacetylation, and microglial cell activation and maturation. In addition, probiotics‐derived metabolites (i.e., short‐chain fatty acid, neurotransmitters, and antioxidants) have shown ameliorative effects against AD. Probiotics also modulate gut microbiota, with a beneficial impact on neural signalling and cognitive activity, which can attenuate AD progression. Therefore, the current review describes the etiology and mechanism of AD progression as well as various treatment options with a focus on the use of probiotics. Practical applications: In an aging population, dementia concerns are quite prevalent globally. AD is one of the most commonly occurring cognition disorders, which is linked to diminished brain functions. Scientific evidence supports the findings that probiotics and gut microbiota can regulate/modulate brain functions, one of the finest strategies to alleviate such disorders through the gut‐brain axis. Thus, gut microbiota modulation, especially through probiotic supplementation, could become an effective solution to ameliorate AD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present study, Monascus red biopigment produced by solid-state fermentation was evaluated for its anti-microbial and antioxidative potential. The antibacterial activity through Scanning Electron Microscopy against Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus was found to show morphological damage in some cells, as evidenced by the outflow of cell contents, deep craters, burst cells, and cell death at concentration of 200 µg/ml of biopigment. Moreover, antibacterial activity through agar well diffusion method against Bacillus cereus, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumonia and Pseudomonas aeruginosa was in range of 2-6 mm by varying concentration of biopigment from 1 to 20 mg/ml. Next, the antifungal activity of the extracted biopigment was in the range of 2-9 mm for Aspergillus flavus, Fusarium oxysporum and Alternaria alternata. In addition, antioxidant efficacy of red biopigment through DPPH, ABTS and FRAP assay results was found to show 59.69 %, 91.1 %, and 15.22 % free radical scavenging activity. The results of this study revealed that red biopigment has potential to modulate the antimicrobial and antioxidative activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diabetes and other lifestyle disorders have been recognized as the leading cause of morbidity and mortality globally. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) is a major factor involved in the early pathobiology of diabetes and studies reveal that hyperglycemic conditions in body leads to NF-κB mediated activation of several cytokines, chemokines and inflammatory molecules. NF-κB family comprises of certain DNA-binding protein factors that elicit the transcription of pro-inflammatory molecules. Various studies have identified NF-κB as a promising target for diabetic management. Probiotics have been proposed as bio-therapeutic agents for treatment of inflammatory disorders and many other chronic clinical stages. The precise mechanisms by which probiotics acts is yet to be fully understood, however research findings have indicated their role in NF-κB modulation. The current review highlights NF-κB as a bio-therapeutic target for probable management of type 2 diabetes through probiotic intervention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analysed 256 soil samples from four districts viz. Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, and Shamali in the Western Plain zone of Uttar Pradesh for entomopathogenic fungi for its efficiency on the tomato fruit borer Helicoverpa armiger (Hubner). These analyses led to isolation of Beauveria bassiana, Lecanicillium lecanii and Nomuraea rileyi from districts Saharanpur and Shamali; and Metarhizium anisopliae from Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar. Random Amplification of Polymorphic (RAPD) analyses of these fungi with 20 random primers gave six scorable bands with reproducible results, of which the dendrogram brought out the similarity amongst them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]