FIG. 3.

Degradation of mucin by 10 Bifidobacterium strains after 48 h of growth in BM in the presence of mucin. (a) Chromatograms of BM containing 0.3% mucin, the supernatant of the positive mucin-degradation control (feces) after 48 h of incubation, and B. bifidum L22 culture supernatant after 48 h of incubation. (b) Amount of the highest (∼5 × 10⁵ Da) peak. The dotted line indicates the maximum value of mucin initially present in the culture medium. For sample peak quantification (μg/ml), the linear regression equations (R² = 0.994 ± 0.004) for each standard were calculated from at least three replicated measurements of each concentration. A linear regression equation (R² = 0.995) was also calculated to determine the molecular masses (in daltons) of the sample peaks.