Oligosaccharides from faeces of a blood-group B, breast-fed infant

Eight oligosaccharides have been isolated from faeces of a blood group B, secretor, breast-fed infant and characterized by sugar and methylation analysis, f.a.b. mass spectrometry and 1H-n.m.r. spectroscopy. One of these oligosaccharides has not previously been reported and is a tri-L-fucosyl derivative of lacto-N-hexaose. The other compounds were identical to oligosaccharides found in human milk. Several of the reported compounds require the secretor dependent 2'-fucosyltransferase for their biosynthesis. Since the mother of this child was an O(H) non-secretor, an intestinal biosynthesis of at least some of these compounds is strongly indicated. No blood group B active oligosaccharides were detected which is in sharp contrast to the oligosaccharide excretion in faeces from a blood group A infant [Sabharwal et al., Mol. Immunol., 21 (1984) 1105-1112] in which all the major oligosaccharides isolated were blood group A active.