How do infant gut microbes use N-glycans from breast milk as a nutrient source?

The human gut microbiota has a mutualistic relationship with the host, creating a profound but poorly understood impact of host health, development, and disease. Glycans are the main nutrient source for the gut microbiota and these can come from dietary fibre of human glycoproteins, for example. Species of Bifidobacterium are the dominant bacteria found in an infant's gut and are critical to the development of a healthy gut. Breast milk contains numerous bioactive components that have evolved to specifically feed Bifidobacterium species present in an infant's gut. This project will determine how N-glycans on breast milk proteins are used as a nutrients source by these species. A combination of techniques will be used, including: bacterial growth, glycan and sugar analysis, enzyme production, and enzyme characterisation.