Reduced colonic mucin degradation in breastfed infants colonized by Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis EVC001.

ABSTRACT: Mucin glycoproteins play an important role in protecting the gut epithelium by keeping gut microbes from direct contact with the gut epithelium while allowing for diffusion of small molecules from the lumen to the epithelium. The mucin glycocalyx can be degraded by gut bacteria such as Bacteroides and Akkermansia, but other bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium longum subsp. Infantis, cannot consume mucin glycans. Untargeted mass spectrometry profiles were compared to microbiome profiles to assess how different gut microbiomes affect colonic mucin degradation. Samples obtained from nine infants colonized by Bifidobacterium infantis EVC001 and from 10 infants colonized by higher levels of mucolytic taxa (controls), including Bacteroides, were compared.

SUBMITTER: Karav S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6168692 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature