Polysaccharide breakdown by mixed populations of human faecal bacteria

Measurements of polysaccharide-degrading activity in different fractions of human faeces showed that bacterial polysaccharidases and glycosidases were primarily associated with the washed bacterial fractions. Amylase, pectinase and xylanase were the major polysaccharide-hydrolysing enzymes detected, whilst α-L-arabinofuranosidase, β-D-xylosidase, β-D-galactosidase and β-D-glucosidase were the most active glycosidases. Starch and 3 non-starch polysaccharides (NSP; pectin, xylan and arabinogalactan) were fermented by mixed populations of human faecal bacteria in batch culture. Detailed carbohydrate analysis demonstrated that starch and pectin were the most rapidly degraded substrates and that arabinogalactan and the relatively insoluble polysaccharide xylan were broken down more slowly. Free sugars and oligosaccharides did not accumulate in culture media with any polysaccharide tested. Time-course measurements of polysaccharide remaining in the batch culture fermentations showed that the arabinose side chains of pectin, xylan and arabinogalactan were co-utilised with the backbone sugars. In these cultures, polysaccharide-degrading activity was mainly cell-associated, but extracellular polysaccharidase activity increased as the fermentations progressed. Molar ratios of acetate, propionate and butyrate produced in these experiments were dependent upon the polysaccharide substrate tested. Molar ratios of acetate, propionate and butyrate in the starch, arabinogalactan, xylan and pectin fermentations were 50:22:29, 50:42:8, 82:15:3, and 84:14:2, respectively. The presence of starch did not inhibit the breakdown of arabinogalactan, xylan or pectin by faecal bacterial, providing evidence that multicomponent substrate utilisation occurs when complex populations of faecal bacteria are provided with mixed polysaccharide substrates.