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Bacteria Frozen 5,000 Years in Romanian Cave Resists 10 Antibiotics
Psychrobacter SC65A.3 from Scarisoara Ice Cave resists 10 of 28 tested antibiotics and carries over 100 resistance genes, revealing ancient natural evolution of antibiotic resistance.
- Recently, Cristina Purcarea's team recovered Psychrobacter SC65A.3 from a 5,000-year-old ice layer in Scarisoara Ice Cave's Great Hall, resisting 10 of 28 antibiotics tested.
- Because antibiotic resistance evolved long before modern medicine, Cristina Purcarea studied ancient microbial competition and natural resistome at the Institute of Biology Bucharest to trace this history.
- Sequencing showed SC65A.3 contains almost 600 unannotated genes alongside candidates for antimicrobial activity, including more than 100 resistance-related genes and 11 antimicrobial candidate genes.
- Amid World Health Organization warnings about antimicrobial resistance, SC65A.3 secretes molecules that could yield new antibiotics, while melting glaciers and ice caves may release ancient microbes, raising concerns.
- Sequencing and sterile lab isolation underpinned the team's analysis, with strict safety measures to prevent spread; SC65A.3 is a cold-adapted psychrophile with biotech potential, researchers said.
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137 Articles
Scientists report that frozen bacteria preserved for 5,000 years in an underground cave in Romania have proven to be resistant to current antibiotics, Euronews reports.
Could This 5,000-Year-Old Bacteria Trapped in Ice Be the End of Us?
One of the more frightening prospects in a future filled with them is antibiotic resistance, the idea that there may be superbugs impervious to the medicines designed specifically to kill them. A new study suggests that this is actually nothing new, and that microbes have been adapting to threats for a very long time. Researchers analyzing ice cores from Scărișoara Ice Cave in northwestern Romania have identified a 5,000-year-old bacterial strai…
Science Daily
ecotopical.comFrozen for 5,000 years, this ice cave bacterium resists modern antibiotics
Deep inside a Romanian ice cave, locked away in a 5,000-year-old layer of ice, scientists have uncovered a bacterium with a startling secret: it’s resistant to many modern antibiotics. Despite predating the antibiotic era, this cold-loving microbe carries more than 100 resistance-related genes and can survive drugs used today to treat serious infections like tuberculosis and UTIs.
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