Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Oct 22;10(10):e0135280.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135280. eCollection 2015.

A Preliminary Study Examining the Binding Capacity of Akkermansia muciniphila and Desulfovibrio spp., to Colonic Mucin in Health and Ulcerative Colitis

Helen Earley  1 , Grainne Lennon  1 , Aine Balfe  1 , Michelle Kilcoyne  2 , Marguerite Clyne  3 , Lokesh Joshi  4 , Stephen Carrington  5 , Sean T Martin  6 , J Calvin Coffey  7 , Desmond C Winter  6 , P Ronan O'Connell  1
Affiliations

A Preliminary Study Examining the Binding Capacity of Akkermansia muciniphila and Desulfovibrio spp., to Colonic Mucin in Health and Ulcerative Colitis

Helen Earley et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Akkermansia muciniphila and Desulfovibrio spp. are commensal microbes colonising the mucus gel layer of the colon. Both species have the capacity to utilise colonic mucin as a substrate. A. muciniphila degrades colonic mucin, while Desulfovibrio spp. metabolise the sulfate moiety of sulfated mucins. Altered abundances of these microorganisms have been reported in ulcerative colitis (UC). However their capacity to bind to human colonic mucin, and whether this binding capacity is affected by changes in mucin associated with UC, remain to be defined.

Methods: Mucin was isolated from resected colon from control patients undergoing resection for colonic cancer (n = 7) and patients undergoing resection for UC (n = 5). Isolated mucin was purified and printed onto mucin microarrays. Binding of reference strains and three clinical isolates of A. muciniphila and Desulfovibrio spp. to purified mucin was investigated.

Results: Both A. muciniphila and Desulfovibro spp. bound to mucin. The reference strain and all clinical isolates of A. muciniphila showed increased binding capacity for UC mucin (p < .005). The Desulfovibrio reference strain showed increased affinity for UC mucin. The mucin binding profiles of clinical isolates of Desulfovibrio spp. were specific to each isolate. Two isolates showed no difference in binding. One UC isolate bound with increased affinity to UC mucin (p < .005).

Conclusion: These preliminary data suggest that differences exist in the mucin binding capacity of isolates of A. muciniphila and Desulfovibrio spp. This study highlights the mucin microarray platform as a means of studying the ability of bacteria to interact with colonic mucin in health and disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Summary of Materials and Methods.
Fig 2
Fig 2. Comparison of the glycosylation profiles of human colonic mucins generated from lectin profiling of the mucin microarray.
The maximum binding for colonic mucins is 8,335 RFU. The highest intensity binding is represented by red, followed by orange, yellow and white.
Fig 3
Fig 3. Boxplots illustrating the binding of clinical isolates and reference strains to mucin from different sources.
Median binding of isolates of A. muciniphila to control mucin (a) Median binding of isolates of A. muciniphila to UC mucin (b) Median binding of isolates of Desulfovibrio spp. to control mucin (c) Median binding of isolates of Desulfovibrio spp. to UC mucin (d).
Fig 4
Fig 4. Boxplots representing the median binding of each isolate and reference strain to mucin from the UC colon compared to controls.
Direct comparison of the median binding of isolates of A. mucinihpila (a). Direct comparison of median binding of isolates of Desulfovibrio spp. (b).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. McGuckin MA, Linden SK, Sutton P, Florin TH. Mucin dynamics and enteric pathogens. Nature reviews Microbiology. 2011;9(4):265–78. 10.1038/nrmicro2538 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johansson ME, Larsson JM, Hansson GC. The two mucus layers of colon are organized by the MUC2 mucin, whereas the outer layer is a legislator of host-microbial interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2011;108 Suppl 1:4659–65. 10.1073/pnas.1006451107 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hansson GC. Role of mucus layers in gut infection and inflammation. Current opinion in microbiology. 2012;15(1):57–62. 10.1016/j.mib.2011.11.002 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Backhed F, Ley RE, Sonnenburg JL, Peterson DA, Gordon JI. Host-bacterial mutualism in the human intestine. Science (New York, NY). 2005;307(5717):1915–20. - PubMed
    1. Ouwerkerk JP, de Vos WM, Belzer C. Glycobiome: bacteria and mucus at the epithelial interface. Best practice & research Clinical gastroenterology. 2013;27(1):25–38. - PubMed

Publication types