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Andres Marcoleta, a researcher from the University of Chile who
headed the study in the Science of the Total Environment journal
in March, said that these "superpowers" which evolved to resist
extreme conditions are contained in mobile DNA fragments that
can easily be transferred to other bacteria.
"We know that the soils of the Antarctic Peninsula, one of the
polar areas most impacted by melting ice, host a great diversity
of bacteria," Marcoleta said. "And that some of them constitute
a potential source of ancestral genes that confer resistance to
antibiotics."
Scientists from the University of Chile collected several
samples from the Antarctic Peninsula from 2017 to 2019.
"It is worth asking whether climate change could have an impact
on the occurrence of infectious diseases," Marcoleta said.
"In a possible scenario, these genes could leave this reservoir
and promote the emergence and proliferation of infectious
diseases."
Researchers found that the Pseudomonas bacteria, one of the
predominant bacteria groups in the Antarctic Peninsula, are not
pathogenic but can be a source of 'resistance genes', which are
not stopped by common disinfectants such as copper, chlorine or
quaternary ammonium.
However, the other kind of bacteria they researched, Polaromonas
bacteria, does have the "potential to inactivate beta-lactam
type antibiotics, which are essential for the treatment of
different infections," said Marcoleta.
(Reporting by Fabian Cambero; Writing by Alexander Villegas;
Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
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