Obesity has become a major social problem related to health and quality of life. Our previous work demonstrated that Lactobacillus plantarum FRT10 alleviated obesity in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice by alleviating gut dysbiosis. However, the underlying functions of FRT10 in regulating liver and cecum contents metabolism remain unknown. Liver and cecum contents metabonomics combined with pathway analysis based on ultraperformance liquid chromatography-quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-TOF/MS) were performed to evaluate the alterations of metabolic profiles between obese control mice and obese mice in FRT10-treated groups. The orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA) score plots showed that there were significant differences in cecum contents and liver markers between experimental groups. In total, 26 potential biomarkers were identified in the liver and 15 in cecum contents that could explain the effect of FRT10 addition in HFD-fed mice. In addition, gut–liver axis analysis indicated that there was a strong correlation between cecum contents metabolites and hepatic metabolites. The mechanism of FRT10 against obesity might be related to the alterations in glycerophospholipid metabolism, primary bile acid biosynthesis, amino metabolism, and purine and pyrimidine metabolism. Studies on these metabolites could help us better understand the role of FRT10 in obesity induced by HFD.

The white-rot fungus Irpex lacteus is recognized for its strong ligninolytic and polysaccharide-degrading capacity, but the key advantages in degrading lignocellulose and the regulation of its enzyme systems remain poorly understood. In this study, we identified a rich repertoire of carbohydrate-active enzymes in the genome of I. lacteus QJ. Relative to other white-rot fungi, an expanded glycoside hydrolase gene family in I. lacteus QJ suggesting strong potential for lignocellulose degradation. When I. lacteus QJ was cultivated on glucose or wheat straw for 4 and 8 days, wheat straw strongly induced carbohydrate-active enzyme genes on day 4, while ligninolytic enzyme genes exhibited delayed upregulation on day 8. The cellobiose dehydrogenase plays an important role in the degradation processes. Its expression pattern is consistent with that of cellulase, and it can support peroxidase activity by providing H₂O₂. These findings reveal temporal coordination between polysaccharide- and lignin-degrading enzymes, providing new theoretical ideas for the application of I. lacteus during the degradation process. Our results not only improve the mechanistic understanding of fungal lignocellulose deconstruction but also inform strategies to enhance biological pretreatment of agricultural residues for biorefinery applications.