Bacteria and Reagents

Bifidobacterium adolescentis ATCC15703, isolated from the intestine of an adult, was purchased from BeNa Culture Collection. The p-nitrophenyl glycoside derivatives, including p-nitrophenyl-β-D-glucopyranoside (pNPβGlc), p-nitrophenyl-α-D-glucopyranoside (pNPαGlc), p-nitrophenyl-β-D-galactopyranoside (pNPβGal), p-nitrophenyl-α-D-galact opyranoside (pNPαGal), p-nitrophenyl-β-D-xylopyranoside (pNPβXyl), p-nitrophenyl-α-D-xylopyranoside (pNPαXyl), p-nitrophenyl-α-L-arabinofuranoside (pNPαAraf), and p-nitro phenyl-α-L-arabinopyranoside (pNPαArap), were purchased from Yuanye Bio-Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). The other chemicals, including sophorose, laminaribiose, cellobiose, gentiobiose, Rb1, and Rd, were purchased from Solarbio Science & Technology Co., Ltd. (Beijing, China).