PONE-D-20-35235

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CHANGES IN INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA COMPOSITION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

PLOS ONE

Dear Dr. Ramírez,

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Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

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Reviewers' comments:

Reviewer's Responses to Questions

Comments to the Author

1. Is the manuscript technically sound, and do the data support the conclusions?

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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2. Has the statistical analysis been performed appropriately and rigorously?

Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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Reviewer #1: Yes

Reviewer #2: Yes

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5. Review Comments to the Author

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Reviewer #1: Dear Author

the topic of the manuscript is really relevant and actual.

In fact, the relationship between microbiota and physical activity could be the key factor

between physical activity and neurodegenerative diseases, creating an "gut-muscle-brain" axis.

Recently it as been published an article:

Ticinesi A, Mancabelli L, Tagliaferri S, Nouvenne A, Milani C, Del Rio D, Lauretani F, Maggio MG, Ventura M, Meschi T.

The Gut-Muscle Axis in Older Subjects with Low Muscle Mass and Performance: A Proof of Concept Study Exploring Fecal Microbiota Composition and Function with Shotgun Metagenomics Sequencing.

Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Nov 25;21(23):E8946. doi: 10.3390/ijms21238946

that could be used for explaining this relatioship.

And also this other article could be used for close this loop:

Ticinesi A, Lauretani F, Tana C, Nouvenne A, Ridolo E, Meschi T.

Exercise and immune system as modulators of intestinal microbiome: implications for the gut-muscle axis hypothesis.

Exerc Immunol Rev. 2019;25:84-95.

and finally:

Ticinesi A, Tana C, Nouvenne A, Prati B, Lauretani F, Meschi T.

Gut microbiota, cognitive frailty and dementia in older individuals: a systematic review.

Clin Interv Aging. 2018 Aug 29;13:1497-1511.

Reviewer #2: In this study, Aya et.al. present a systematic review of literature describing the association between physical activity and intestinal microbiota in human subjects. From the studies they analyzed, the authors have provided a comprehensive overview of how exercise affects intestinal microbiota in humans. The review is well written, succinct, and gives a good overview of the studies considered. However, I have the following comments:

1. There have been recent reviews on the topic of exercise and gut microbiome composition in athletes vs non-athletes. Almost all the reviews describe the changes of gut microbiome in terms of the composition. I urge the authors to include a table like the other tables that provides a description of the downstream functional changes associated with the compositional information. The discussion section provides a good template for this.

2. Minor comment: There are minor typos in the document e.g. TD2 instead of T2D for Type II Diabetes.

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Reviewer #1: No

Reviewer #2: No

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ASSOCIATION BETWEEN PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND CHANGES IN INTESTINAL MICROBIOTA COMPOSITION: A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW

PONE-D-20-35235R1

Dear Dr. Ramírez,

We’re pleased to inform you that your manuscript has been judged scientifically suitable for publication and will be formally accepted for publication once it meets all outstanding technical requirements.

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Kind regards,

Jane Foster, PhD

Academic Editor

PLOS ONE

Reviewers' comments: