Scientists Believe Drug-Resistant Bacteria First Evolved on Hedgehogs

 

 

The use of antibiotics in medicine to treat bacterial infections undoubtedly saved thousands, if not millions of lives since Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. Unfortunately, due to bacteria’s ability to harbor multiple generations and multiply by the millions within days, these prokaryotes have evolved to resist antibiotics in a time-frame in which eukaryotes could only dream of. However, modern medicine might not be to blame for the acceleration of resistant bacteria.  

Beneath the spines of European hedgehogs – Erinaceus eropaeus and Erinaceus roumanicus - lies the infamous Staphylococcus aureus, the epidermal bacterium responsible for the menacing and potentially life-threatening Staph Infection. Along side the staphylococcus a natural antibiotic producing fungus resides on the skin, which may have created an environment that bolstered the staph’s resistance to modern antibiotics hundreds of years prior to their discovery. The fungus known as T. erinacei has lived symbiotically with the bacteria, producing penicillin to prevent being consumed by its neighboring prokaryotes.

    A study in which 276 hedgehogs residing from 10 different European countries and New Zealand were swabbed and found to contain 16 strains of mecC-MRAS – the antibiotic resistant staphylococcus – on their skin and noses. Through genome analysis and comparison of mutations throughout all 16 strains, scientists traced lineages dating back as far as the 1800’s, confirming the bacteria’s evolution prior to modern medicine.

Related article:

https://www.genengnews.com/drug-resistance/study-suggests-superbug-mrsa-evolved-in-hedgehogs-long-before-clinical-use-of-antibiotics/

 

All It Takes is One Mutation

A university research team from Scotland recently discovered a bacteria that has mutated and gained the ability to jump from humans to rabbits.  The scientists traced the evolution of a specific bacterium that causes skin infections in rabbits: Staphylococcus aureus (ST121).  Strangely enough, ST121 has been found in some humans as well and although it's relatively harmless, it can sometimes lead to meningitis or sepsis.  

This similarity allowed the scientists to track the evolution of the pathogen and discover that the rabbit-specific ST121 bacteria evolved from the human-specific version over 40 years ago and mutated enough to be able to jump from humans to rabbits.  One genetic mutation allowed this to happen.  One naturally occurring genetic mutation was enough to completely change the bacteria and let it change host species.  The fact that a genetic mutation this small can alter a pathogen so much brings up a lot of questions and a lot of places where more studies can be done to see what other bacteria, if any, may be able to jump so easily from another species to humans or vice versa.  This could also pose a problem for industrial animal businesses that keep many different species of animals in close quarters.

I think this is a very interesting topic because it's bizarre; a human probably wouldn't expect to get an infection from a rabbit.  I also think it's interesting how only one genetic mutation allowed the bacteria to do this.  Scientists know little about bacteria and viruses because they are all so complex and there are many variations of them so scientists may never learn everything there is to know about their makeups.  It's important that scientists research this in more detail with other species of animals if they ever want to help slow or stop the spread of these species-hopping pathogens for peoples' and animals' sake.