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Plant-based production of diverse human milk oligosaccharides

Barnum, C. R.; Paviani, B.; Couture, G.; Masarweh, C.; Chen, Y.; Huang, Y.-P.; Mills, D. A.; Lebrilla, C. B.; Barile, D.; Yang, M.; Shih, P.

2023-09-20 plant biology
10.1101/2023.09.18.558286 bioRxiv
Show abstract

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) are a diverse class of carbohydrates that aid in the health and development of infants. The vast health benefits of HMOs have made them a commercial target for microbial production; however, producing the [~]130 structurally diverse HMOs at scale has proven difficult. Here, we produce a vast diversity of HMOs by leveraging the robust carbohydrate anabolism of plants. This diversity includes high value HMOs, such as lacto-N-fucopentaose I, that have not yet been commercially produced using state-of-the-art microbial fermentative processes. HMOs produced in transgenic plants provided strong bifidogenic properties, indicating their ability to serve as a prebiotic supplement. 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 cheap and sustainable production of HMOs.

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