Recently, Akkermansia muciniphila was identified as a mucin-degrading bacterium that resides in the mucus layer. It is the dominant human bacterium that abundantly colonizes this nutrient-rich environment.
A. muciniphila may represent 3–5% of the gut microbiota in healthy subjects, but I would like to know if this bacterium has also been found in foods.
Everything comes from somewhere. Though Akkermansia has been only reported to associate with human microbiome (so far), it would be too early to say actually. What I feel that it has certainly been associated with food, for example plant material which has high glycoproteins. Once it reaches the gut, the favorable condition (mucin abundance) help them to colonize and multiply. Thanks to current culturing limitation we actually never able to grow such organisms easily. I am not aware well if any other sources have been explored with culture independent technique and reported with Akkermansia presence. Definitely it would be interesting to find from other sources.
We had reported the presence of A. muciniphila along the whole gastrointestinal tract in lactating mice, from mouth to large intestine. A. muciniphila is dependent of mucus to their growth, so I think that is difficult to found in a significant amount outside an animal body.
Hi Charles thanks for your answer, therefore you believe that the colonization of the gastrointestinal tract by A. muciniphila occurs in the prenatal period?
I'm not sure about it. But it may occurs in the perinatal period. And their presence has been also reported in human milk (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22453296)
Akkermansia and its genetic variants are found in many mammals, but also fish, bird and reptiles:
Belzer C und deVos WM:" Microbes inside—from diversity to function: the case of Akkermansia"in: The ISME Journal (2012) 6, 1449–1458; doi:10.1038/ismej.2012.6; published online 22 March 2012 Could be, that they are implanted in the human gut by parasites.
A 16S rRNA-targeted probe, MUC-1437, was designed and validated in order to determine the presence and numbers of cells of Akkermansia muciniphila, a mucin degrader, in the human intestinal tract. As determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization, A. muciniphila accounted more than 1% of the total fecal cells and was shown to be a common bacterial component of the human intestinal tract. Due to the fastidious nature of the bacterium they are strictly confined to the gut of the host.
Hi,
I am interested in the subject Akkermansia Muciniphila.
I intend to use it as a
probiotic in diabetic subjects in the form of a supplement. Unfortunately I couldn't find prepared strain of Akkermansia muciniphila for use.
I will be grateful if let me know how I can culture Akkermansia Muciniphila or is it possible to obtain prepared strain for use.
We are looking on someone with experience growing akkermencia in culture
Verrucomicrobia has been found in meconium (0.06%) – Hu et al., 2013. PLOSone- so it might be because a foetal transfer or a transfer during delivery. And after the initial colonization the population may increase during infancy,
As reported by Carlos Gómez-Gallego Akkermansia was found in human milk (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22453296). Does anyone know if Akkermansia muciniphila has been found also in other kind of milk.
Elena,
All of the supplements I have found are derived from cow milk.
"Akkermansia muciniphila is an abundant inhabitant of the intestinal tract of humans and many other animals."
https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/docserver/fulltext/micro/163/5/646_micro000444.pdf?expires=1567080363&id=id&accname=guest&checksum=5B254A5F1A4690FC6516E34BA05BB736
Neda Roshanravan Did you ever find a source or manage to culture some Akkermansia muciniphila?
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