Biochemical characterisation of the neuraminidase pool of the human gut symbiont Akkermansia muciniphila

- Four putative neuraminidases from a human gut bacterium were cloned and recombinantly expressed in active form.
- Functional characterisation revealed that the enzymes had similar temperature optima, but distinct metal requirements and pH optima.
- The enzymes showed different substrate specificities towards C5-modified sialic acid analogues.
- Simple expression and purification procedure make these enzymes potentially valuable for bioanalytical and industrial applications