Synbiotics aim to improve gastrointestinal health by combining pre- and probiotics. This study evaluated combinations of Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis BB-12 with seven fructans: oligofructoses (OF1-OF2; low degree polymerization (DP)), inulins (IN1-IN2-IN3; high DP) OF/IN mixtures (OF/IN1-OF/IN2). During monoculture incubations, all fructans were fermented as followed from increased nu...

Research was conducted to determine the physiological effect of substituting 5% of maize starch with cellulose, inulin and oligofructose in the diet of rats. The feeding of cellulose and fructans did not influence the food intake and weight gains of animals. The addition of oligofructose and inulin induced an enlargement of the caecum (wall and digesta). Dry matter and pH of caecal digesta were...

Abstract We profiled the grain oligosaccharide content of 154 two-row spring barley genotypes and quantified 27 compounds, mainly inulin- neoseries-type fructans, showing differential abundance. Clustering revealed two profile groups where ‘high’ set contained greater amounts sugar monomers, sucrose, overall but lower fructosylraffinose. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) identified a signi...

The intestinal microbiota impacts many facets of human health and is associated with human diseases. Diet impacts microbiota composition, yet mechanisms that link dietary changes to microbiota alterations remain ill-defined. Here we elucidate the basis of Bacteroides proliferation in response to fructans, a class of fructose-based dietary polysaccharides. Structural and genetic analysis disclos...

b2-1 fructans are considered to be prebiotics. Current literature indicates that b2-1 fructans may modulate some aspects of immune function, improve the host’s ability to respond to certain intestinal infections, and modify some inflammatory outcomes in human subjects. However, there is a need to find out more about the modulation of immune markers by b2-1 fructans in humans. Healthy human subj...

This article is part 1 of a two-part review of inulin-type prebiotics. Prebiotics are a category of nutritional compounds grouped together by the ability to promote the growth of specific beneficial (probiotic) gut bacteria. Inulin-type prebiotics contain fructans of the inulin-type. Fructans are a category of nutritional compounds that encompasses naturally occurring plant oligo- and polysacch...

Fructans are water-soluble fructose oligomers and polymers that are based on sucrose, and have been implicated in protecting plants against water stress. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is highly sensitive to chilling temperatures, and is not able to synthesize fructans. Two wheat fructan-synthesizing enzymes, sucrose:sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase, encoded by wft2, or sucrose:fructan 6-fructosyltransfe...

The main storage compounds in Lolium perenne are fructans with prevailing β(2-6) linkages. A cDNA library of L. perenne was screened using Poa secunda sucrose:fructan 6-fructosyltransferase (6-SFT) as a probe. A full-length Lp6-SFT clone was isolated as shown by heterologous expression in Pichia pastoris. High levels of Lp6-SFT transcription were found in the growth zone of elongating leaves an...

Fructans are a group of fructose-based oligo- and polysaccharides, which appear to be involved in membrane preservation during dehydration by interacting with the membrane lipids. To get further understanding of the protective mechanism, the consequences of the fructan-membrane lipid interaction for the molecular organization and dynamics in the dry state were studied. POPC and DMPC were invest...