Fermentation of plant cell wall derived polysaccharides and their corresponding oligosaccharides by intestinal bacteria

New types of nondigestible oligosaccharides were produced from plant cell w all polysaccharides, and the fermentation of these oligosaccharides and the ir parental polysaccharides by relevant individual intestinal species of ba cteria was studied. Oligosaccharides were produced from soy arabinogalactan , sugar beet arabinan, wheat flour arabinoxylan, polygalacturonan, and rham nogalacturonan fraction from apple. All of the tested substrates were ferme nted to some extent by one or more of the individual species of bacteria te sted. Bacteroides spp. are able to utilize plant cell wall derived oligosac charides besides their reported activity toward plant polysaccharides. Bifi dobacterium spp. are also able to utilize the rather complex plant cell, wa ll derived oligosaccharides in addition to the bifidogenic fructooligosacch arides. Clostridium spp., Klebsiella spp., and Escherichia coli fermented s ome of the selected substrates in vitro. These studies do not allow predict ion of the fermentation in vivo but give valuable information on the fermen tative capability of the tested intestinal strains.