Key genes involved in utilization of highly abundant HMO in breastmilk are present in B. infantis EVC001 allowing for superior colonization of the breastfed infant gut compared to other commercial probiotic strains

Abstract

Purpose: Breast milk contains a high concentration of complex glycans known as human milk oligosaccharides (HMO). HMO influence the composition of the intestinal microbiome of breastfed infants by serving as growth substrates to select strains of bifidobacteria. More than 200 individual HMO structures have been identified in breastmilk. However, lacto-N-tetraose (LNT), lacto-N-neotetraose (LNnT), and 2’-Fucosyllactose (2’FL) in FUT2+ mothers, are disproportionally abundant. The biological role for their abundance in the context of bacterial colonization of the infant gut has not been determined. In a previous study, Bifidobacterium …