Microbes

Akkermansia muciniphila is a mucus-layer specialist that has shifted from “odd gut commensal” to one of the most mechanistically characterized next-generation probiotic candidates. First isolated from human feces using gastric mucin as the sole carbon and nitrogen source, it is adapted to life at the mucus–epithelium interface, where it converts host mucins into metabolites (notably acetate and propionate) that can feed other microbes and influence host physiology. Its genome encodes an unusually rich secretome for mucin foraging, dozens of predicted glycoside hydrolases, sulfatases, proteases, and sialidases, supporting stepwise dismantling of complex O-glycans and the mucin backbone.