Human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) are important bioactive ingredients of breast milk, the most abundant being 2’-fucosyllactose (2’-FL), which is significantly beneficial to the growth and development of infants, and is considered as a novel nutrient supplement with great potential. Recently, great progress has been made in the bio-production of 2’-FL, whose output has reached industrial levels of production. Many multi-national companies have investigated 2’-FL bio-production techniques for a long time. However, universities and companies in China have just begun research in this field, highlighting its great significance. This paper reviews the 2’-FL bio-production pathways and summarizes several recent novel 2’-FL biosynthesis methods.

Lactulose, also known as isomerized lactose, is a reducing disaccharide made from the dairy industry by-product lactose. Its concentrate is an important over-the-counter (OTC) drug that has a significant therapeutic effect on acute or chronic constipation and hepatic encephalopathy. The methods that have been developed to produce lactulose include the chemical method, β-galactosidase method and epimerase method. In recent years, the epimerase method has aroused extensive attention due to the high conversion rate it yields, which makes it a promising candidate for lactulose preparation although currently there exist some bottlenecks like the high proportion of epilactose as a by-product and the rather low enzyme activity. This article reviews the history and current status of research on the methods for lactulose production, in the hope of providing reference for basic theoretical research and industrialization in this field.