Fig. 1

Time course of the bifidobacterial EPS degradation by B. fragilis. Refractive index chromatogram for degradation of EPS E44 peaks along time (a). Evolution of the total amount of EPS E44 peaks along time (b). Refractive index chromatogram for degradation of EPS R1 peaks along time (c). Evolution of the total amount of the two biggest peaks of EPS R1 fraction along time (d). Significant reduction of the amount of EPS in the corresponding peak with respect to time 0 is indicated by asterisks (p < 0.05). Dashed red lines indicate the amount of polymer for each peak after 144 h of incubation in the absence of B. fragilis