LAUSR

Abstract The biological significance and heterogeneity of bovine, caprine and ovine colostrum sugar nucleotides is unclear. Colostrum sugar nucleotides and sugar monophosphates were purified and characterised with 1H-NMR spectroscopy. UDP-galactose (UDP-Gal) and UDP-glucose (UDP-Glc) were identified in colostrum of Holstein and Brown Swiss cows; UDP-Gal, UDP-Glc, UDP-N-acetylgalactosamine (UDP-GalNAc) and UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) were found in Japanese Saanen goat colostrum. UDP-Gal, UDP-Glc, UDP-GalNAc and UDP-GlcNAc were found in Corriedale sheep but not in the Suffolk and Fraise Land breeds. The presence/absence of these sugar nucleotides in colostrum is heterogeneous among dairy domestic farm animals and the three sheep breeds. In addition, a nucleotide, uridine‐ribose diphosphate (UDP) was identified in the colostra of Japanese Saanen goat, and Suffolk and Fraiseland sheep, while uridine-ribose monophosphate (UMP) was detected in the colostrum of Brown Swiss cow and the three breed sheep. N-acetylglucosamine-1-phosphate (GlcNAc-1-P) was also identified in the colostrum of the goat and two cow breeds.