TY - JOUR

T1 - Akkermansia muciniphila uses human milk oligosaccharides to thrive in the early life conditions in vitro

AU - Kostopoulos, Ioannis

AU - Elzinga, Janneke

AU - Ottman, Noora

AU - Klievink, Jay T.

AU - Blijenberg, Bernadet

AU - Aalvink, Steven

AU - Boeren, Sjef

AU - Mank, Marko

AU - Knol, Jan

AU - de Vos, Willem M.

AU - Belzer, Clara

N1 - Funding Information: The contributing authors Prof. Dr. Jan Knol, Marko Mank and Bernadet Blijenberg are financially supported by Danone Nutricia Research. The remaining authors declares no competing interests. Funding Information: This work was funded by the EU Joint Programming Initiative—A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life (JPI HDHL, https://www.healthydietforhealthylife.eu/) and Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (Spinoza Award and SIAM Gravity Grant 024.002.002). Ioannis Mougiakos, Despoina Trasanidou, Prarthana Mohanraju, and Constantinos Patinios are acknowledged for their important input on cloning, expression and purification of the targeted proteins. Furthermore, Hanne Tytgat is acknowledged for her constructive comments. Publisher Copyright: © 2020, The Author(s).

PY - 2020

Y1 - 2020

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

U2 - 10.1038/s41598-020-71113-8

DO - 10.1038/s41598-020-71113-8

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 32868839

AN - SCOPUS:85090020594

VL - 10

JO - Scientific Reports

JF - Scientific Reports

SN - 2045-2322

IS - 1

M1 - 14330

ER -