UC Davis

Bovine milk oligosaccharides (BMOs) that resemble human milk oligosaccharides are found in whey permeate, indicating that dairy streams can be used as a potential source of bioactive oligosaccharides. Recovery of oligosaccharides from whey permeate is hindered by their low abundance and high concentration of lactose. In the present work, lactose in bovine colostrum whey permeate was hydrolyzed by Aspergillus oryzae β-galactosidase to facilitate subsequent monosaccharide removal by membrane separation. Chromatographic separation coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry revealed β-galactosidase degradation of several β-linkage-containing BMOs and production of novel oligosaccharides that ranged in size from 5 to 11 monosaccharide units containing several galactose repeating units and N-acetylhexosamine at their reducing ends. Optimization of BMO hydrolysis and separation methodology could generate high amounts of hetero-oligosaccharides for improved recovery of potentially biotherapeutic oligosaccharides.