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-Glcp-β-(1→4)-l-Fucp and d-Galp-α-(1→3)-l-Fucp, 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-cultures 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 demonstrated 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.