Editor

Prof. Takane Katayama received his Ph.D. in the field of applied molecular microbiology under the supervision of Prof. Hidehiko Kumagai at Kyoto University (1999). After a three-year postdoc training in the same lab, he moved to the lab led by Prof. Kenji Yamamoto and was appointed an Assistant Professor at Kyoto University (2003). In the lab, he isolated the genes for 1,2-α-L-fucosidase and endo-α-N-acetylgalactosamindase from bifidobacteria, both of which are enzymes acting on human-derived glycans. These findings prompted him to consider host glycans-mediated symbiosis between gut microbes and humans. In the last decade, he has been focused on the functional analysis of bifidobacterial genes and enzymes involved in the degradation of human milk oligosaccharides and mucin O-glycans. His research has significantly contributed to obtaining a better understanding of how bifidobacteria-rich microbiota is formed in the gut of breastfed infants.

Gut microbe, Glycan, Enzyme, Metabolism, Physiology