Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis and Bifidbacterium longum subsp. suis Genome sequencing and assembly. Bifidobacterium

Here we investigated HMO utilization of bifidobacteria that were recently isolated from stool of six month old Kenyan infants and included species such as Bifidobacterium kashiwanohense, Bifidobacterium pseudolongum subsp. globosum, and Bifidobacterium longum subsp. suis that are not frequently isolated from infant stool. As we observed that beside B. longum subsp. infantis and B. bifidum, an isolate of B. longum subsp. suis and strains of B. kashiwanohense were able to grow in the presence of fucosyllactose, we further investigated metabolites formed during L-fucose and fucosyllactose utilization, and aimed to identify genes and pathways involved through genome comparison of the Kenyan isolates B. longum subsp. infantis TPY11-1, B. longum subsp. suis BSM11-5, B. kashiwanohense PV20-2 and the B. kashiwanohense type strain DSM 21854, to the well characterized type strain B. longum subsp. infantis DSM 20088.We report that the ability to utilize fucosyllactose is a trait of various bifidobacteria species. We identified strains of B. longum subsp. infantis and an isolate of B. longum subsp. suis were able to use L-fucose to form 1,2-PD. As 1,2-PD is a precursor for intestinal propionate formation, bifidobacterial L-fucose utilization might affect the intestinal SCFA balance with final impact on infant gut health. A L-fucose utilization pathway for bifidobacteria is suggested.