Akkermansia is a genus in the phylum Verrucomicrobiota (Bacteria). The genus was first proposed by Derrien et al. (2004), with the type species Akkermansia muciniphila (gen. nov., sp. nov).
Until 2016 the genus contained a single known species, namely A. muciniphila. In 2016, Akkermansia glycaniphila was isolated in the feces of a reticulated python.
Akkermansia muciniphila is a human intestinal symbiont, isolated from human feces. It is a mucin-degrading bacterium belonging to the genus Akkermansia, discovered in 2004 by Muriel Derrien and Willem de Vos at Wageningen University of the Netherlands. It belongs to the phylum Verrucomicrobiota and its type strain is Muc (=ATCC BAA-835 =CIP 107961). It is under preliminary research for its potential beneficial associations with metabolic disorders.
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