Evaluation of potential prebiotic activity of a novel fucose-containing trisaccharide prepared from bacterial exopolysaccharides

Fucose-containing oligosaccharides exhibit various biological activities, particularly for improving the intestinal health of infants. Bacterial exopolysaccharides are promising resource of fucose-containing oligosaccharides. A fucose-containing trisaccharide ( d - Glc p-β-(1 → 4)- l - Fuc p and d - Gal p-α-(1 → 3)- l - Fuc p, GuFGa) with same monosaccharide composition with 2′-fucosyllactose (2′-FL, the most abundant oligosaccharide in human milk), is obtained from bacterial exopolysaccharides. This study compared the in vitro prebiotic activities of GuFGa and 2′-FL using mono- and co-culture fermentation. Mono-culture shows GuFGa could be utilized by Bifidobacterium infantis and Lactobacillus plantarum , while 2′-FL only promote the proliferation of B . infantis . Co-culture fermentation involves cross-feeding between B . infantis and L . plantarum to utilize GuFGa. Further in vitro fecal microbiota fermentation of breastfed infants demonstrates that GuFGa exhibits better prebiotic activity than 2′-FL in increasing beneficial bacteria ( Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus ) abundance and reducing harmful bacteria ( Clostridium _ sensu _ stricto and Escherichia - Shigella ) abundance. Moreover, GuFGa and 2′-FL fermentation shifted the gut microbiota composition of formula-fed infants to that of breastfed infants. Furthermore, herein, GuFGa and 2′-FL caused distinct metabolic profiles in both short-chain fatty acids and indole derivatives (e.g. indolelactic acid and indolepropionic acid). In summary, this study provides insights into the exploration of novel functional fucose-containing oligosaccharides as potential prebiotics.