Cited by 574Infant Nutrition and HealthGut microbiota and healthMicrobial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology

Bacteroides in the infant gut consume milk oligosaccharides via mucus-utilization pathways

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Marcobal, Angela, Barboza, Mariana, Sonnenburg, Erica D., Pudlo, Nicholas, Martens, Eric C., Desai, Prerak, Lebrilla, Carlito B., Weimer, Bart C. +3 more·2011·Cell Host & Microbe

Abstract

Newborns are colonized with an intestinal microbiota shortly after birth, but the factors governing the retention and abundance of specific microbial lineages are unknown. Nursing infants consume human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) that pass undigested to the distal gut, where they may be digested by microbes. We determined that the prominent neonate gut residents, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron and Bacteroides fragilis, induce the same genes during HMO consumption that are used to harvest host mucus glycans, which are structurally similar to HMOs. Lacto-N-neotetraose, a specific HMO component, selects for HMO-adapted species such as Bifidobacterium infantis, which cannot use mucus, and provides a selective advantage to B. infantis in vivo when biassociated with B. thetaiotaomicron in the gnotobiotic mouse gut. This indicates that the complex oligosaccharide mixture within HMOs attracts both mutualistic mucus-adapted species and HMO-adapted bifidobacteria to the infant intestine that likely facilitate both milk and future solid food digestion.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.chom.2011.10.007

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Authors
Marcobal, A., Barboza, M., Sonnenburg, E. D., Pudlo, N., Martens, E. C., Desai, P., Lebrilla, C. B., Weimer, B. C., Mills, D. A., German, J. B., & Sonnenburg, J. L.
Affiliations
  • Stanford Medicine (US)
  • University of California, Davis (US)
  • University of Michigan (US)
Corresponding author
Sonnenburg, Justin L.
Venue
Cell Host & Microbe
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2011-11
Volume
10
Issue
5
Pages
507-514
ISSN
1931-3128 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2060872094
Cited by
574
References
31
Citations by year
2026: 25 · 2025: 50 · 2024: 51 · 2023: 48 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 38 · 2018: 37 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 27 · 2013: 19 · 2012: 18
FWCI
19.19
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Cell Host & Microbe (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institutes of Health (1dp2od006515-01)
  • University of California, San Diego
  • National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (DK084214, K01DK084214, R01DK085025)
  • Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (IR01HD061923, R01HD061923)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Infant Nutrition and Health
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
  • Health Sciences › Nursing › Nutrition and Dietetics › Microbial Metabolites in Food Biotechnology
Keywords
human milk oligosaccharides, Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, Bacteroides fragilis, Bifidobacterium infantis, lacto-N-neotetraose, neonatal gut microbiota, mutualism
MeSH terms
Animals, Animals, Newborn, Bacteroides, Breast Feeding, Humans, Milk, Milk, Human, Mucus, Oligosaccharides, Polysaccharides, Gastrointestinal Tract, Mice

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