Background

Changes and stresses experienced during travel have the potential to impact the gut microbiome, with travel implicated in the spread of antibiotic resistance genes across continents. The possibility of gut microbiome-mediated negative impacts arising from travel, and consequences for peak performance, would be of particular concern for elite athletes.

Methods

Faecal samples were collected from male (N = 14) and female (N = 7) cricket players during the build-up to the 2016 Cricket World Cup. Baseline and post-travel samples were collected from all participants and subjected to 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. Samples from a subset of participants (N = 4) were also analysed by shotgun metagenomic sequencing.

Results

Analysis revealed a single travel time point as having the potential to have an impact on the gut microbiome. Reductions in alpha diversity following travel were observed, accompanied by shifts in the taxonomic profile of the gut microbiome. Antibiotic resistance and virulence genes were also identified as undergoing changes following travel.

Conclusions

This study reveals that periods of travel, in particular following gastrointestinal distress, may result in gut microbiome disruption. While this analysis was completed in athletes, the findings are applicable to all travelling individuals and considerations should be made surrounding travel in an attempt to reduce these changes.

中文翻译：

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直到2016年世界杯之前，爱尔兰板球运动员在旅途中肠道微生物组发生变化的实例：一项测序分析。

背景

旅行过程中经历的变化和压力可能会影响肠道微生物组，旅行涉及抗生素抗性基因在各大洲的传播。旅途中肠道微生物组介导的负面影响的可能性以及对最佳表现的影响，这将是精英运动员特别关注的问题。

方法

在2016年板球世界杯期间，从男性（N = 14）和女性（N = 7）板球运动员收集了粪便样本。从所有参与者中收集基线和旅行后样品，并进行16S rRNA扩增子测序。还通过散弹枪宏基因组测序分析了一部分参与者（N = 4）的样品。

结果

分析显示单个旅行时间点可能会对肠道微生物组产生影响。观察到旅行后α多样性降低，同时肠道微生物组的生物分类学特征发生了变化。抗生素耐药性和毒力基因也被确定为旅行后发生变化。

结论

这项研究表明，旅行的时间段，特别是胃肠道不适后，可能会导致肠道微生物组破坏。虽然这项分析是在运动员中完成的，但调查结果适用于所有旅行个人，应考虑旅行周围的情况，以减少这些变化。