Akkermansia muciniphila

Lives in the gut's mucus layer and uses its mucus (mucin) as food – paradoxically, Akkermansia is associated with a tighter gut barrier. Low levels correlate with excess weight, diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

What Akkermansia does in the gut

Akkermansia muciniphila lives in the mucus layer covering the gut lining and feeds on mucin, the main component of this mucus. Its breakdown releases acetate and propionate as well as sugars on which neighbouring bacteria, including butyrate producers, also live. The constant consumption stimulates the goblet cells to produce new mucus – so the mucus layer is continuously renewed. In animal and cell studies, a protein from the bacterial envelope (Amuc_1100) strengthened the connections between mucosal cells, and Akkermansia promoted the release of the gut hormone GLP-1, which is involved in blood sugar regulation.

Low Akkermansia – what happens in the gut?

When little Akkermansia is present, the mucus layer is turned over more slowly and the neighbouring bacteria receive fewer breakdown products. In animal studies, the mucus layer became thinner and the gut wall more permeable, so that more bacterial lipopolysaccharides reached the blood and triggered mild inflammatory reactions there. In humans, studies have observed low levels more often in excess weight, type 2 diabetes and inflammatory bowel disease; antibiotics can also reduce the amount considerably.

High Akkermansia – what happens in the gut?

A lot of Akkermansia means a lot of mucus breakdown. As long as the goblet cells produce enough new mucus, the mucus layer stays in balance. If the other bacteria lack dietary fibre, however, they too switch to mucus as food; in animal studies the protective layer was then broken down faster than it was renewed. Raised levels have also been measured with the diabetes medicine metformin and found more often in studies of Parkinson's disease and multiple sclerosis, although the significance of this link has not been clarified.

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