Lysozyme in breast milk is a selection factor for bifidobacterial colonisation in the infant intestine.

The objective of this work was to study the residential characteristics of bifidobacteria, which can be classified as either human-residential bifidobacteria (HRB) or non-HRB. We investigated the growth of different strains of HRB and non-HRB in human breast milk with the aim of understanding the mechanisms involved in the unique habitation of each taxon. The growth of 37 strains of different bifidobacterial species or subspecies in breast milk was investigated by incubating each under anaerobic conditions at 37 °C. The tolerance of each strain to either egg white or human lysozyme was compared. Among the infant-type HRB strains, all strains of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis and Bifidobacterium breve grew well in breast milk, but the growth characteristics of B. longum subsp. longum and B. bifidum were strain-dependent. In contrast, the tested strains of adult-type HRB and non-HRB generally failed to grow and died after incubation in breast milk. Most infant-type HRB strains were tolerant to high concentrations of lysozyme, while adult-type HRB strains possessed intermediate tolerance to lysozyme, and non-HRB strains were susceptible to lysozymes of egg white or human origin. These data suggest that breast milk lysozyme content plays a central role in the exclusion of non-HRB, while other factors, together with lysozyme content, are involved in the growth inhibition of adult-type strains in human milk. Our results suggest that infant-type HRB strains would be suitable candidates for use as infant probiotics.