Lactose or milk oligosaccharide: which is significant among mammals?

Engineered plants provide a photosynthetic platform for the production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides

“…A key component to the distinct bioactive properties of human milk is the presence of a wide diversity of human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) which are well documented in establishing the nascent gut microbiota of infants to prevent diseases and ensure healthy development 1 – 4 . While 75% of infants are supplemented with or exclusively fed infant formula in the first 6 months of life, current infant formulas are either devoid of HMOs or only contain one to two of the ~200 HMOs found in human milk, limiting the health outcomes of formula-fed infants 3 , 5 , 6 . In addition to their use for infant health, HMOs are being studied for their beneficial roles in adult health as a prebiotic to improve intestinal barrier function, lower gastrointestinal inflammation and treat irritable bowel diseases 7 – 11 ; however, the study of HMO benefits in adults has been limited to a small subset of HMOs.…”

“…In addition to their use for infant health, HMOs are being studied for their beneficial roles in adult health as a prebiotic to improve intestinal barrier function, lower gastrointestinal inflammation and treat irritable bowel diseases 7 – 11 ; however, the study of HMO benefits in adults has been limited to a small subset of HMOs. Currently, commercial HMO production relies on microbial fermentation but, to date, microbial fermentation is only able to commercially produce two to five simple HMOs of the ~200 HMOs found in human milk at a scale suitable to supplement food products 6 , 12 , 13 . While five simple HMOs constitute a large portion of HMO mass in human milk, diverse HMOs with a range of linkages and degrees of polymerization enable the growth of beneficial gut microbes which have preferences for specific HMOs 14 , 15 .…”

Using Organoids to Tap Mammary Gland Diversity for Novel Insight

“…Milk oligosaccharides are the third most abundant solid component of human milk [ 99 ] and are an important contributor to infant development and particularly neurodevelopment [ 94 ]. The composition and types of oligosaccharides differ greatly between species [ 93 , 100 – 105 ], and it is hypothesized that milk oligosaccharide abundance and variety are important evolutionary contributors to the development of complex mammalian systems, with an emphasis on neural systems [ 106 , 107 ]. The variability of milk oligosaccharides is not directly encoded in the genome but is generated in situ and impacted by the cellular context and factors such as hormones and enzymes involved in glycosylation pathways.…”

From the Editors: “Mammalian milk: The elixir of life from maternal care to modern dairy production”

“…The nutritive value of mammary secretions developed later in evolution. Urashima and his colleagues describe the changes in mammary secretions from high lysozyme and oligosaccharide contents in early mammals to increasing alpha-lactalbumin and abundant secretion of free lactose representing the main carbohydrate source in most modern mammals ( Urashima et al, 2023 ).…”