Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41386340›Full record

ArticleMetabolic engineering2026

Lacto-N-tetraose biosynthesis from lactose via metabolically rewired Escherichia coli.

Dileep Sai Kumar Palur, Shannon R Pressley, Alex McGill, Yuanyuan Bai, Hai Yu, Xi Chen, Shota Atsumi

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Metabolic engineering, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Dileep Sai Kumar PalurDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Shannon R PressleyDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Alex McGillBiochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Yuanyuan BaiDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Hai YuDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Xi ChenDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA.
Shota AtsumiDepartment of Chemistry, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA; Biochemistry, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology Graduate Group, University of California, Davis, CA, 95616, USA. Electronic address: satsumi@ucdavis.edu.

Funding

Microbial production of fucosylated human milk oligosaccharidesR01GM145842 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT DAVIS · PI ATSUMI, SHOTA · 2022 to 2025
$1.2M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM145842
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), such as lacto-N-tetraose (LNT), play critical roles in infant health by shaping gut microbiota and modulating immune function. While LNT is already produced at industrial scales, efficient microbial routes to more complex HMOs derived from LNT remain limited. Here, we established a simplified microbial platform in Escherichia coli that produces LNT directly from lactose as the sole carbon and precursor source. A key innovation was construction of a strain library with tunable β-galactosidase (LacZ) activity, enabling controlled lactose hydrolysis to generate glucose and galactose for UDP-sugar biosynthesis while preserving sufficient intact lactose as the scaffold for LNT assembly. Quantitative profiling of intracellular UDP-sugars further guided identification of metabolic bottlenecks. The optimized strain achieved co-production of 2.4 g/L LNT and 2.0 g/L lacto-N-triose II (LNT II) from 10 g/L lactose. This streamlined strategy demonstrates the feasibility of producing LNT from a single substrate and provides a versatile foundation for scalable microbial biosynthesis of more complex HMOs.

Indexed as

Escherichia coliLactoseMetabolic EngineeringOligosaccharidesbeta-GalactosidaseHumansbeta-Galactosidaselacto-N-neotetraoseLactoseOligosaccharidesHuman milk oligosaccharidesLacto-N-tetraoseLacto-N-triose IIMetabolic engineeringβ-galactosidase

Identifiers

PMID41386340
PMCPMC12925824

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.