Figure 4.

Cross-feeding of 2′-FL between B. wexlerae and B. bifidum. (A) Growth of B. wexlerae in monocultures and co-cultures with B. bifidum for 18 h. (B) TLC of 2′-FL utilization in monocultures and co-cultures of B. wexlerae and B. bifidum in YCFA_2FL. (A) The values represent the means ± SDs of triplicate experiments. ^*p < 0.05, ^**p < 0.01; detection limit: 10⁶ cells/ml. (B) The presence or absence of each bacterial strain and the sole carbon source in each YCFA medium are indicated below the horizontal axis. GMC, 0.2% each of glucose, maltose, and cellobiose; 2′-FL, 2′-fucosyllactose; and YCFA_2FL, YCFA medium supplemented with 1.0% (w/v) 2′-fucosyllactose as the sole carbon source.