Explore the recorded discovery and history of Akkermansia muciniphila, with source links and stated limits.
A. muciniphila lives in the intestinal mucus layer and uses mucin as its carbon and nitrogen source. Reviews put it at 1 to 3% of the faecal microbiota and present in more than 90% of healthy adults tested, rising from 16% of samples at one month of age to 90% by twelve months and decreasing in the elderly. It is a Gram-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming oval cell that tolerates oxygen for up to 72 hours despite being an anaerobe. Lower abundance has been reported alongside obesity, type 2 diabetes, inflammatory and liver diseases, and small human trials of pasteurized preparations report metabolic effects; these remain exploratory findings rather than established treatments.
LPSN records Akkermansia muciniphila Derrien et al. 2004, published in the International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology as a new genus and species of human intestinal mucin-degrading bacterium, with type strain MucT (ATCC BAA-835 / DSM 22959). Reviews note it was isolated from the stool of a healthy individual.
This profile describes a normal resident of the human intestinal mucus layer, first isolated from a healthy person’s stool. It does not identify a first human case, and no infection is attributed to this organism here.
Source check: 2026-09-19. Educational content; independent scientific review remains pending.