Consumption of human milk oligosaccharides by gut-related microbes
Open accessAbstract
Human milk contains large amounts of complex oligosaccharides that putatively modulate the intestinal microbiota of breast-fed infants by acting as decoy binding sites for pathogens and as prebiotics for enrichment of beneficial bacteria. Several bifidobacterial species have been shown to grow well on human milk oligosaccharides. However, few data exist on other bacterial species. This work examined 16 bacterial strains belonging to 10 different genera for growth on human milk oligosaccharides. For this propose, a chemically defined medium, ZMB1, was used, which allows vigorous growth of a number of gut-related microorganisms in a fashion similar to complex media. Interestingly, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis, Bacteroides fragilis , and Bacteroides vulgatus strains were able to metabolize milk oligosaccharides with high efficiency, whereas Enterococcus , Streptococcus , Veillonella , Eubacterium , Clostridium , and Escherichia coli strains grew less well or not at all. Mass spectrometry-based glycoprofiling of the oligosaccharide consumption behavior revealed a specific preference for fucosylated oligosaccharides by Bi. longum subsp. infantis and Ba. vulgatus. This work expands the current knowledge of human milk oligosaccharide consumption by gut microbes, revealing bacteroides as avid consumers of this substrate. These results provide insight on how human milk oligosaccharides shape the infant intestinal microbiota.
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Select strains of Bifidobacteria possess specialized enzymes capable of metabolizing human milk oligosaccharide glycans.
“Recent studies have shown that select strains of Bifidobacteria possess specialized enzymes capable of metabolizing MOS glycans15-17.”
From Diet and the Intestinal Microbiome: Associations, Functions, and Implications for Health and Disease (2014) · cites this paper as [16]
Breast milk contains more than 200 structurally different human milk oligosaccharides that cannot be digested by the infant but promote the growth of selected genera such as Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides.
“Breast milk also contains >200 structurally different human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) (Jost et al., 2015), which cannot be digested by the infant, but rather promote the growth of selected genera, such as Bifidobacteria and Bacteroides (Marcobal et al., 2010), thought to promote the healthy development of the GI tract and immune system.”
From Viral Infections, the Microbiome, and Probiotics (2021) · cites this paper as Marcobal et al., 2010
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- Authors
- Marcobal, A., Barboza, M., Froehlich, J. W., Block, D. E., German, J. B., Lebrilla, C. B., & Mills, D. A.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Davis (US)
- Chemistry
- Chemical Engineering and Material Science
- Food Science and Technology
- Departments of Viticulture and Enology
- Corresponding author
- Lebrilla, Carlito B.
- Mills, David A.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2010-04-15
- Volume
- 58
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 5334-5340
- ISSN
- 0021-8561 (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5118
- PMC
- PMC2866150
- OpenAlex
- W2000311971
- Cited by
- 568
- References
- 34
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 37 · 2024: 41 · 2023: 54 · 2022: 46 · 2021: 68 · 2020: 54 · 2019: 37 · 2018: 40 · 2017: 32 · 2016: 18 · 2015: 28 · 2014: 22 · 2013: 21 · 2012: 26
- FWCI
- 20.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- Agricultural Research Service
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (HD059127, R01HD061923, R01HD059127)
- 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, gut microbiota, Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis, Bacteroides vulgatus, Bacteroides fragilis, fucosylated oligosaccharides, oligosaccharide metabolism, prebiotics, glycan profiling
- MeSH terms
- Bacteria, Humans, Intestines, Milk, Human, Oligosaccharides, Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared, Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
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