Targeted High-Resolution Taxonomic Identification of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis Using Human Milk Oligosaccharide Metabolizing Genes.

ABSTRACT: Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis (B. infantis) is one of a few microorganisms capable of metabolizing human breast milk and is a pioneer colonizer in the guts of breastfed infants. One current challenge is differentiating B. infantis from its close relatives, B. longum and B. suis. All three organisms are classified in the same species group but only B. infantis can metabolize human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs). We compared HMO-metabolizing genes across different Bifidobacterium genomes and developed B. infantis-specific primers to determine if the genes alone or the primers can be used to quickly characterize B. infantis. We showed that B. infantis is uniquely identified by the presence of five HMO-metaboli

SUBMITTER: Tso L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8401031 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature