Alcoholic liver injury (ALI) has emerged as a significant public health concern, necessitating the urgent identification of medicinal-food resources for its prevention and treatment. As a natural medicinal food resource, Chenpi (CHE) is rich in various flavonoid bioactive compounds and exhibits potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective effects. However, the effect and mechanism of CHE in preventing and improving ALI are not yet known. This study sought to elucidate CHE’s hepatoprotective mechanisms in ALI from the biochemical markers, microbiome and transcriptome perspectives. Results showed that CHE ameliorated ALI by improving oxidative stress, inflammatory cytokines and liver function. 16S rRNA analysis revealed that CHE alleviated ALI pathological progression primarily by restoring gut microbiota composition. Transcriptomic analysis showed that CHE improved ALI mainly related to MAPK signaling pathway. Pearson correlation analysis revealed that Candidatus_Saccharimonas, Turicibacter, and Clostridium_sensu_stricto_1 play key roles in the process by which CHE ameliorates alcohol-induced inflammation and pathological angiogenesis. These findings revealed that CHE has the potential to be used as a functional food to prevent or improve ALI.

The microbial potential of Penicillium has received critical attention. The present research aimed to elucidate the efficacy of crude enzyme secreted from Penicillium oxalicum WX-209 in degrading citrus segments and evaluate the safety of the process. Results showed that citrus segment membranes gradually dissolved after treatment with the crude enzyme solution, indicating good degradation capability. No significant differences in body weight, food ingestion rate, hematology, blood biochemistry, and weight changes of different organs were found between the enzyme intake and control groups. Serial experiments showed that the crude enzyme had high biological safety. Moreover, the whole genome of P. oxalicum WX-209 was sequenced by PacBio and Illumina platforms. Twenty-five scaffolds were assembled to generate 36 Mbp size of genome sequence comprising 11369 predicted genes modeled with a GC content of 48.33%. A total of 592 genes were annotated to encode enzymes related to carbohydrates, and some degradation enzyme genes were identified in strain P. oxalicum WX-209.