Structure and biological activities of glycoproteins and their metabolites in maintaining intestinal health

Abstract

Glycoproteins formed by covalent links between oligosaccharide and polypeptides are abundant in various food sources. They are less sensitivity to gastrointestinal enzymes, and hence many of them undergo fermentation in the colon by microorganisms. Therefore, the confer various health benefits on the intestinal ecosystem. However, the current understanding of the effect of glycoproteins on intestinal microorganisms and gut health is limited. This is probably due to their heterogeneous structures and complex metabolic programming patterns. The structure and biological activities of glycoproteins and their microbial metabolites were summarized in this review. The metabolic pathways activated by intestinal bacteria were then discussed in relation to their potential benefits on gut health. Food-derived glycoproteins and their metabolites improve gut health by regulating the intestinal bacteria and improving intestinal barrier function, thereby amplifying immune response. The data reviewed here show that food-derived glycoproteins are promising candidates for preventing various gastrointestinal diseases. Further studies should explore the interaction mechanisms between intestinal microorganisms and host metabolites.

Supplemental data for this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10408398.2021.1987857 .

GRAPHICAL ABTSRACT

Keywords:

• Food-derived glycoproteins
• intestinal health
• intestinal microbiota
• microbial metabolites

Author contributions

Jiaqi Zheng was responsible for collecting and analyzing references and writing the original draf. Haotian Wang and Zhanfei Deng participated in data collection, manuscript editing and proofreading. Yuanyuan Shan was responsible for conceptualization, revised and finalized the manuscript, supervisor. Xin Lü provided resources and finalized the manuscript. Xue Zhao participated in manuscript revision and language improvement.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support provided by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 2019M663834 and Grant No. 2020T130097ZX), and the college students’ science and technology innovation project (Grant No. S202010712258).