1. Engineered plants provide a photosynthetic platform for the production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides.
- Author
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Barnum CR, Paviani B, Couture G, Masarweh C, Chen Y, Huang YP, Markel K, Mills DA, Lebrilla CB, Barile D, Yang M, and Shih PM
- Subjects
- Humans, Prebiotics, Photosynthesis, Oligosaccharides metabolism, Milk, Human metabolism, Milk, Human chemistry, Plants, Genetically Modified genetics
- Abstract
Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a diverse class of carbohydrates which support the health and development of infants. The vast health benefits of HMOs have made them a commercial target for microbial production; however, producing the approximately 200 structurally diverse HMOs at scale has proved difficult. Here we produce a diversity of HMOs by leveraging the robust carbohydrate anabolism of plants. This diversity includes high-value and complex HMOs, such as lacto-N-fucopentaose I. HMOs produced in transgenic plants provided strong bifidogenic properties, indicating their ability to serve as a prebiotic supplement with potential applications in adult and infant health. Technoeconomic analyses demonstrate that producing HMOs in plants provides a path to the large-scale production of specific HMOs at lower prices than microbial production platforms. Our work demonstrates the promise in leveraging plants for the low-cost and sustainable production of HMOs., (© 2024. The Author(s).)
- Published
- 2024
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