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In-Depth Information
can be incorporated into infant formulae. Murata et al. (1999b) prepared
lacto-N-triose II (GlcNAc(
1-3)Gal(
1-4)Glc) by the action of
-3-N-acetyl-
glucosaminyltransferase from bovine serum, using lactose as the acceptor and
UDP-GlcNAc as the donor. They then prepared LNT by reverse hydrolysis
using
-galactosidase from recombinant Bacillus circulans ATCC31882, with
lacto-N-triose II as the acceptor and lactose as a donor. However, bovine
serum
-3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase is not available on an industrial
scale, and the cost of UDP-GlcNAc is still very high. Because the LNB
structure in LNT is considered to act as a specific bifidus factor in human
milk (Kitaoka et al., 2005), LNB is also a possible candidate as a prebiotic.
LNB, a disaccharide, should be much easier to produce than LNT, a tetra-
saccharide. Nishimoto and Kitaoka (2007b) succeeded in the mass produc-
tion of LNB using LNBP.
It can be expected that, in future, milk oligosaccharides will be isolated
from the colostrum or milk of cows, or of other domestic farm animals, on an
industrial scale for use in the production of infant formulae. Bovine colos-
trum contains more than 1 g/L of sialyl oligosaccharides, of which 3
0
-SL
constitutes 70% (Nakamura et al., 2003). As noted above, there is evidence
that 3
0
-SL prevents the adhesion of H. pylori to the gastric mucosa (Karlsson,
1998; Mysore, 1999; Sharon and Ofek, 2000). It can therefore be expected
that 3
0
-SL isolated from bovine colostrum will be incorporated into infant
formulae and biofunctional foods to prevent this adhesion.
Furthermore, the oral administration of goat milk oligosaccharides may be
useful as a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease (Daddaowa et al., 2006;
Lara-Villoslada et al., 2006) and it is possible that oligosaccharides from goat milk
or colostrum or bovine colostrum will be used for this purpose. It has been noted,
however, that the presence of Neu5Gc in caprine and ovine milk (see above) and
the milk of other non-humans may be a significant drawback, since this type of
sialic acid is not normally found in human milk oligosaccharides. There appears
to be evidence that circulating anti-Neu5Gc-antibodies can be found in humans,
probably as a result of dietary ingestion of Neu5Gc (Bode, 2006).
Nevertheless, oligosaccharides isolated from milk or colostrum of
domestic farm animals, as well as milk oligosaccharide-like components
prepared by synthetic methods, the functions of which are similar to those
of milk oligosaccharides, can in future be expected to be used in industry as
biofunctional materials.
Acknowledgements
This study was partially supported by a grant from Global COE Program,
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan, and
