New research has discovered a potential solution for the nutritional gap between infant formula and human breast milk. By programming plants to produce a variety of beneficial sugars found in human breast milk, the study offers the possibility of creating healthier and more affordable formula for babies. Additionally, it could also result in more nutritious non-dairy plant milk for adults. Approximately 75% of babies worldwide rely on infant formula during their first six months, either as their main source of nutrition or to supplement breastfeeding. However, current formula options do not contain the same nutrients as breast milk.
Recreate the complete nutritional makeup of breast milk.
This is partly due to the fact that human breast milk contains an exclusive combination of around 200 prebiotic sugar molecules that aid in disease prevention and promote the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. However, most of these sugars are still challenging, if not impossible, to produce.
New findings, led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Davis, demonstrate how genetically modified plants could help bridge this divide.
In a recent study released in the journal Nature Food, the research team reprogrammed plants’that if we could transfer this ability to make complex sugars from plants to yeast, we could produce these valuable molecules in a cost-effective and sustainable way.” Traditional methods of producing human milk oligosaccharides involve extracting them from breast milk, which is not only expensive but also restricts their availability. By using yeast to produce these sugars from plants, the researchers hope to create a more scalable and affordable method of obtaining human milk oligosaccharides. This could potentially lead to the development of healthier baby formula and more nutritious non-dairy plant milk for adults. Yeast, a type of fungi, has been used for centuries in the production of bread, beer, and wine, making it a viable candidate for large-scale production of complex sugars. The researchers have successfully engineered yeast to be able to produce a variety of human milk oligosaccharides, making it a promising alternative to traditional methods of extraction from breast milk. By harnessing the natural ability of plants to produce complex sugars, the researchers have opened up new possibilities for the production of human milk oligosaccharides in a more sustainable and cost-effective way. This could have significant implications for the baby formula industry, as well as for those seeking non-dairy plant milk options. By utilizing yeast to produce these sugars from plants, the researchers hope to make these valuable molecules more accessible and affordable, ultimately leading to healthier and more sustainable options for both infants and adults.”Plants already have the sugar metabolism in place, so why not redirect it to produce human milk oligosaccharides?”
All complex sugars, including human milk oligosaccharides, are constructed from simple sugar building blocks known as monosaccharides. These monosaccharides can be connected in various ways to create chains and branched chains of sugars. What sets human milk oligosaccharides apart is the specific set of rules for linking these simple sugars together.
To transform plants into producers of human milk oligosaccharides, the study’s lead author, Collin Barnum, modified the genes responsible for this process.The enzymes responsible for creating these specific connections were identified by Shih. He then collaborated with Daniela Barile, David Mills, and Carlito Lebrilla at UC Davis to insert the genes into the Nicotiana benthamiana plant, which is a close relative of tobacco. The result was that the genetically modified plants produced 11 known human milk oligosaccharides, as well as a variety of other complex sugars with similar linkage patterns. Shih stated, “We made all three major groups of human milk oligosaccharides. To my knowledge, no one has ever demonstrated that you could make all three of these groups simultaneously in a single organism.”Barnum focused on developing a consistent supply of N. benthamiana plants that were specifically designed to produce a single human milk oligosaccharide called LNFP1. LNFP1 is a particularly beneficial five-monosaccharide-long human milk oligosaccharide that has been challenging to produce in large quantities using traditional methods of microbial fermentation. Barnum, who undertook this research while studying at UC Davis, believed that by creating more complex human milk oligosaccharides, they could address a problem that the industry is currently unable to solve. At present, only a few human milk oligosaccharides can be produced at scale due to the limitations of the existing methods.Oligosaccharides can be produced by modified E. coli bacteria. However, separating the useful molecules from harmful byproducts is expensive, and only a few baby formulas contain these sugars. Shih and Barnum, along with collaborator Minliang Yang, conducted a study at North Carolina State University to determine the cost of producing human milk oligosaccharides from plants on a large scale. They found that it would likely be more cost-effective than using microbial platforms. “Just think, making all the human milk oligosaccharides in one plant. Then you”You could simply grind the plant, extract all the oligosaccharides at once, and add that directly into infant formula,” Shih stated. “There would be many challenges in implementing and commercializing this, but it is the main goal we are striving towards.”
Additional authors of the study are Bruna Paviani, Garret Couture, Chad Masarweh, Ye Chen, Yu-Ping Huang, David A. Mills, Carlito B. Lebrilla, and Daniela Barile from UC Davis; Kasey Markel from UC Berkeley; and Minliang Yang from North Carolina State University.
This research received support from the National Institutes of Health (NIGMS T32 Training Program) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.The Department of Energy and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health have collaborated on project R00AT009573.
