Akkermansia glycanphila is a species of intestinal mucin-degrading bacterium. It was first isolated from reticulated python (Malayopython reticulatus) feces in 2016.[1]
The genus was named for Antoon DL Akkermans (1940–2006), a Dutch microbiologist recognized for his contribution to microbial ecology, and the epithet from the New Latin and Greek meaning "glycan-loving".[2]
A. glycaniphila, like, A. muciniphilaisGram-negative, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, oval-shaped bacterium. The typestrain is PytT (=DSM100705T=CIP 110913T). A. glycaniphila is able to use mucin as its sole source of carbon and nitrogen. It is culturable under the same conditions as A. muciniphilia, (anaerobic conditions on medium containing gastric mucin). When grown on soft agar mucin medium, colonies appear white with a diameter of 0.7mm. The long axis of single cells is 0.6–1.0 μm. Cells are covered with filaments, and occur singly, in pairs, in short chains and in aggregates.[1]
This bacterium probably inhabits oxic-anoxic interface of the intestinal mucin layer.[3] This was demonstrated for A. muciniphila MucT.[4]
16s rRNA gene amplicon sequencing reveals that the genus Akkermansia have been detected in animals with a wide variety of GI tract anatomy (foregut, hindgut, or simple) and in diet (from herbivores to omnivores and carnivores). It has been found in mammals both wild and domesticated, and in non-mammals like birds, fish and reptiles like the Burmese python.[5] Mucin types, and the glycan types expressed, vary between these organisms, but mucus is a consistent feature of their intestinal tracts.[6] It may be that mucus-colonizing microbes have a role in protecting the host against intestinal pathogens and contribute to restoration of the microbiota. [7]
