Akkermansia muciniphila uses human milk oligosaccharides to thrive in the early life conditions in vitro

Ioannis Kostopoulos, Janneke Elzinga, Noora Ottman, Jay T. Klievink, Bernadet Blijenberg, Steven Aalvink, Sjef Boeren, Marko Mank, Jan Knol, Willem M. de Vos, Clara Belzer*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

93 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Akkermansia muciniphila is a well-studied anaerobic bacterium specialized in mucus degradation and associated with human health. Because of the structural resemblance of mucus glycans and free human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs), we studied the ability of A. muciniphila to utilize human milk oligosaccharides. We found that A. muciniphila was able to grow on human milk and degrade HMOs. Analyses of the proteome of A. muciniphila indicated that key-glycan degrading enzymes were expressed when the bacterium was grown on human milk. Our results display the functionality of the key-glycan degrading enzymes (α-l-fucosidases, β-galactosidases, exo-α-sialidases and β-acetylhexosaminidases) to degrade the HMO-structures 2′-FL, LNT, lactose, and LNT2. The hydrolysation of the host-derived glycan structures allows A. muciniphila to promote syntrophy with other beneficial bacteria, contributing in that way to a microbial ecological network in the gut. Thus, the capacity of A. muciniphila to utilize human milk will enable its survival in the early life intestine and colonization of the mucosal layer in early life, warranting later life mucosal and metabolic health.

Original languageEnglish
Article number14330
JournalScientific Reports
Volume10
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Dec 2020

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