Characterization of oligosaccharides in milk of a mink, Mustela vison

• Published in: Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology Molecular & integrative physiology, 2005-12, Vol.142 (4), p.461-471
• Main Authors: Urashima, Tadasu, Nakamura, Tadashi, Ikeda, Akiko, Asakuma, Sadaki, Arai, Ikichi, Saito, Tadao, Oftedal, Olav T.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Lactose - chemistry; Lactose - isolation & purification; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - methods; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy - standards; Milk - chemistry; Milk oligosaccharides; Mink; Mustela vison; Mustelidae; Neutral oligosaccharides; Oligosaccharides - chemistry; Oligosaccharides - isolation & purification; Reference Standards; Sialyl oligosaccharides; Time Factors
• ISSN: 1095-6433; 1531-4332
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2005.09.015

Carbohydrates were extracted from a sample of milk from a mink, Mustela vison (Family Mustelidae). Free neutral and acidic oligosaccharides were isolated from the carbohydrate fraction and their chemical structures were compared with those of white-nosed coati ( Nasua narica, Procyonidae) and harbour seal ( Phoca vitulina, Phocidae) that we had studied previously. The ratio of free lactose to milk oligosaccharides was similar to that in milk of the white-nosed coati; in both species, this ratio was much lower than that in the milk of most eutherians. The neutral oligosaccharides of mink milk had α(1–3)-linked Gal or α(1–2)-linked Fuc residues at their non-reducing ends, as in the neutral oligosaccharides of white-nosed coati milk. Some of the neutral and acidic oligosaccharides, determined here, had been found also in harbour seal milk, but the harbour seal oligosaccharides did not contain α(1–3)-linked Gal residues.