Human milk contains 12~13 g/L of oligosaccharides, of which around 250 varieties have been separated and more than 160 structures have been characterized. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) have been classified into 20 series based on the core structures, which contain neither fucose nor sialic acid, and the biosynthetic pathways of these structures have been proposed based on the activities of β-1-3-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (iGnT), β-1-6-N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (IGnT), β-1-3-galactosyltransferase (β3GalT) as well as β-1-4-galactosyltransferase (β4GalT). Around 50 varieties of oligosaccharides have been also separated and characterized from bovine colostrum, and the biosynthetic pathways of their core structures have been proposed as well. ...and more
Chitooligosaccharides produced by degrading chitin or chitosan possess attractive biological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory effects. The use of enzymes in the production of chitooligosaccharides may increase their value in terms of safety and simplicity of process control. We have shown that the monkey expresses a high level of CHIA mRNA in the stomach. Crab-eating monkey CHIA had robust chitinolytic activity under a broad range of pH conditions with high thermal stability. In addition, crab-eating monkey CHIA efficiently degrades chitin and chitosan to produce chitooligosaccharides under acidic and high-temperature conditions without inactivation. We propose crab-eating monkey CHIA for application in agricultural and biomedical purposes. ...and more
