The Ferrier Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington, Petone, New Zealand.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2020 May 19;86(11). doi: 10.1128/AEM.00214-20.
Bifidobacterial species are common inhabitants of the gut of human infants during the period when milk is a major component of the diet. , , subspecies , and subspecies have been detected frequently in infant feces, but subsp. may be disadvantaged numerically in the gut of infants in westernized countries. This may be due to the different durations of breast milk feeding in different countries. Supplementation of the infant diet or replacement of breast milk using formula feeds is common in Western countries. Formula milks often contain galacto- and/or fructo-oligosaccharides (GOS and FOS, respectively) as additives to augment the concentration of oligosaccharides in ruminant milks, but the ability of subsp. to utilize these potential growth substrates when they are in competition with other bifidobacterial species is unknown. We compared the growth and oligosaccharide utilization of GOS and FOS by bifidobacterial species in pure culture and coculture. Short-chain GOS and FOS (degrees of polymerization [DP] 2 and 3) were favored growth substrates for strains of and subsp. , whereas both and subsp. had the ability to utilize both short- and longer-chain GOS and FOS (DP 2 to 6). was nevertheless numerically dominant over subsp. in cocultures. This was probably related to the slower use of GOS of DP 3 by subsp. , indicating that the kinetics of substrate utilization is an important ecological factor in the assemblage of gut communities. The kinds of bacteria that form the collection of microbes (the microbiota) in the gut of human infants may influence health and well-being. Knowledge of how the composition of the infant diet influences the assemblage of the bacterial collection is therefore important because dietary interventions may offer opportunities to alter the microbiota with the aim of improving health. subspecies is a well-known bacterial species, but under modern child-rearing conditions it may be disadvantaged in the gut. Modern formula milks often contain particular oligosaccharide additives that are generally considered to support bifidobacterial growth. However, studies of the ability of various bifidobacterial species to grow together in the presence of these oligosaccharides have not been conducted. These kinds of studies are essential for developing concepts of microbial ecology related to the influence of human nutrition on the development of the gut microbiota.
双歧杆菌属物种是人类婴儿肠道中常见的居民，在这段时间内，牛奶是饮食的主要成分。已频繁检测到 、 亚种 、 和 亚种存在于婴儿粪便中，但在西方化国家的婴儿肠道中， 亚种 可能在数量上处于劣势。这可能是由于不同国家母乳喂养的持续时间不同。在西方国家，婴儿饮食的补充或使用配方奶代替母乳喂养是很常见的。配方奶通常含有半乳糖和/或果寡糖（分别为 GOS 和 FOS）作为添加剂，以增加反刍奶中寡糖的浓度，但当 亚种 与其他双歧杆菌物种竞争时，利用这些潜在生长基质的能力是未知的。我们比较了双歧杆菌属物种在纯培养和共培养中对 GOS 和 FOS 的生长和利用。短链 GOS 和 FOS（聚合度 [DP] 2 和 3）是 株和 亚种 的优势生长基质，而 株和 亚种 均具有利用短链和长链 GOS 和 FOS（DP 2 至 6）的能力。然而，在共培养物中， 株在数量上仍优于 亚种 。这可能与 亚种 对 DP 3 的 GOS 利用较慢有关，表明基质利用的动力学是肠道群落组装的一个重要生态因素。形成人类婴儿肠道微生物群（微生物组）的细菌种类可能会影响健康和幸福感。因此，了解婴儿饮食的成分如何影响细菌集合的组成非常重要，因为饮食干预可能提供机会改变微生物群，以改善健康。 亚种 是一种众所周知的细菌物种，但在现代育儿条件下，它在肠道中可能处于劣势。现代配方奶通常含有特定的寡糖添加剂，通常被认为可以支持双歧杆菌的生长。然而，尚未研究各种双歧杆菌属物种在存在这些寡糖的情况下共同生长的能力。这些研究对于发展与人类营养对肠道微生物群发展的影响有关的微生物生态学概念是必不可少的。
