Akkeremencia muciniphila: from Normal Gut Microflora to Probiotic against Obesity probiotic and safety Potentials

Abstract

Probiotics are gaining interest as an alternative to antimicrobial drugs for treatment and control of digestive malfunctions including functional gastrointestinal disorders. Probiotics comes with a property to not only support a gut barrier but also enhancing health by supporting immune system, which could be utilized to control metabolic diseases. Akkermansia muciniphila (A. muciniphila), an intestinal symbiont colonizing in the mucosal layer, is considered to be a promising candidate as probiotics against inflammatory disorders especially obesity. A. muciniphila is known to have an important value in improving the host metabolic functions and immune responses. However, most of the current researches focus on the correlation between A. muciniphila and metabolic diseases, but very little is known about the causal relationship between them. This study is designed to analyze genomic features of A. muciniphila not only to analyze its safety to be used as probiotic but also to evaluate its probiotic potentials. Pangenome analysis, Clusters of Orthologous Genes COG and phylogenetic analysis revealed that A. muciniphila shows a stable genome character. The antibiotic resistance pattern was analyzed and only intrinsic resistant genes necessary of probiotics were present and no multidrug resistance was found. It was also concluded that no pathogenicity islands or virulent genes are present in any of the selected strains. Hence, A. muciniphila could be considered safe to be used as probiotic, for further validation, genomic islands of each strain were separately analyzed. Bacteriocin producing genes of each strain were also analyzed proposing the conclusion that A. muciniphila is safe and has potential to be used as probiotic against metabolic diseases especially obesity.