The mucin degrader Akkermansia muciniphila is an abundant resident of the human intestinal tract

A 16S rRNA-targeted probe, MUC-1437, was designed and validated in order to determine the presence and numbers of cells of Akkermansia muciniphila, a mucin degrader, in the human intestinal tract. As determined by fluorescent in situ hybridization, A. muciniphild accounted more than 1% of the total fecal cells and was shown to be a common bacterial component of the human intestinal tract.