RT Journal Article SR Electronic(1) A1 Derrien, Muriel A1 Vaughan, Elaine E. A1 Plugge, Caroline M. A1 de Vos, Willem M.YR 2004 T1 Akkermansia muciniphila gen. nov., sp. nov., a human intestinal mucin-degrading bacterium JF International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology, VO 54 IS 5 SP 1469 OP 1476 DO https://doi.org/10.1099/ijs.0.02873-0 PB Microbiology Society, SN 1466-5034, AB The diversity of mucin-degrading bacteria in the human intestine was investigated by combining culture and 16S rRNA-dependent approaches. A dominant bacterium, strain MucT, was isolated by dilution to extinction of faeces in anaerobic medium containing gastric mucin as the sole carbon and nitrogen source. A pure culture was obtained using the anaerobic soft agar technique. Strain MucT was a Gram-negative, strictly anaerobic, non-motile, non-spore-forming, oval-shaped bacterium that could grow singly and in pairs. When grown on mucin medium, cells produced a capsule and were found to aggregate. Strain MucT could grow on a limited number of sugars, including N-acetylglucosamine, N-acetylgalactosamine and glucose, but only when a protein source was provided and with a lower growth rate and final density than on mucin. The G+C content of DNA from strain MucT was 47·6 mol%. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis revealed that the isolate was part of the division Verrucomicrobia. The closest described relative of strain MucT was Verrucomicrobium spinosum (92 % sequence similarity). Remarkably, the 16S rRNA gene sequence of strain MucT showed 99 % similarity to three uncultured colonic bacteria. According to the data obtained in this work, strain MucT represents a novel bacterium belonging to a new genus in subdivision 1 of the Verrucomicrobia; the name Akkermansia muciniphila gen. nov., sp. nov. is proposed; the type strain is MucT (=ATCC BAA-835T=CIP 107961T)., UL https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/ijsem/10.1099/ijs.0.02873-0