According to scientists in Chile, bacteria in Antarctica have been discovered with genes that confer natural antibiotic and antimicrobial resistance and have the potential to expand beyond the polar areas.
These “superpowers,” which evolved to resist extreme conditions, are contained in mobile DNA fragments that can easily be transferred to other bacteria, according to Andres Marcoleta, a researcher from the University of Chile who led the study published in the Science of the Total Environment journal in March.
“We know that the soils of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the polar regions most damaged by melting glaciers,” Marcoleta said. “And that some of them could be a source of ancestral genes that confer antibiotic resistance.”
From 2017 to 2019, scientists from the University of Chile collected various samples from the Antarctic Peninsula. “It’s worth considering whether climate change affects the occurrence of infectious diseases,” Marcoleta added.
“These genes could exit this reservoir and drive the emergence and spread of infectious diseases,” says the researcher. Pseudomonas bacteria, one of the most frequent bacterium families in the Antarctic Peninsula, are not harmful, but they can be source of resistanceĀ genes,’ which are resistant to standard disinfectants like copper, chlorine, or quaternary ammonium.
Polaromonas bacteria, on the other hand, haveĀ the “potential to inactivate beta-lactam type antibiotics, which are vital for the treatment of diverse illnesses,” according to Marcoleta.
Featured Image: Reuters
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