In Vitro Infant Faecal Fermentation of Low Viscosity Barley β-Glucan and Its Acid Hydrolyzed Derivatives: Evaluation of Their Potential as Novel Prebiotics.

ABSTRACT: Barley contains high level of β-1,3-1,4-glucans (BBGs) which can be fermented by microbes and are a potential prebiotic. In the present study, native BBG with low viscosity and a MW of 319 kDa was depolymerized by acid hydrolysis to produce a series of four structurally characterized fragments with MWs ranging from 6⁻104 kDa. In vitro fermentation of these BBG samples by infant faecal microbiome was evaluated using a validated deep-well plate protocol as parallel miniature bioreactors. Microbial taxa were identified using 16S amplicon sequencing after 40 h of anaerobic fermentation. Bioinformatics analysis including diversity indexes, predicted metagenomic KEGG functions and predicted phenotypes were performed on the sequenced data. Short chain fatty acids and dissolved ammonia were quanti

SUBMITTER: Lam KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6429510 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature