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Poziom trudności: B2

Źródło: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20260318-the-deep-cave-bacteria-resistant-to-modern-medicine

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'Predators that just run in and grab, stab and kill': The deep cave bacteria resistant to modern medicine

'Predators that just run in and grab, stab and kill': The deep cave bacteria resistant to modern medicine

Ancient bacteriabakterie, trapped in caves for millions of years, live in a miniatureminiaturowy, bardzo mały world of terror. Their only food source is each other. The survival tacticstaktyki przetrwania they develop make them resistantodporny to almost all antibioticsantybiotyki. Now scientists hope to use their tricks to inspire new drugs and treatments.

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Deep undergroundgłęboko pod ziemią, plungingopadając gwałtownie 1,604ft (489m) beneath the Chihuahuan Desert in southern New Mexico, lies the Lechuguilla Cave, a caverngrota; ogromna jaskinia which stretches onciągnie się dalej for 149 miles (240km). There is no light, and little to eat either. Any living thing must eke out an existenceledwo wiązać koniec z końcem; wegetować under conditions of near starvationna granicy głodu.

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"You can go in an entrance and travel for 16 hours in one direction before you get to the end of it," says Hazel Barton, professor of geological sciences at the University of Alabama. 

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"So you're a very, very, very long way from the entrance. You're isolatedodizolowany; odcięty od reszty, and there are places in that cave where more people have walked on the moon than have been in that area." 

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Yet despite the darknessmimo ciemności, there is a dazzlingzachwycający, olśniewający diversityróżnorodność of microbialmikroorganizmów, drobnoustrojowy life. Because the bacteria have been isolatedodosobniony, odizolowany for millions of years, they offer a unique window into the pastwyjątkowy wgląd w przeszłość. What's moreco więcej, each has evolvedrozwinął się, wyewoluował a different strategyinna strategia to surviveprzetrwać. Some extractpozyskiwać, wydobywać energy from rocks and the atmosphereatmosfera. Others are predatorsdrapieżniki, feeding offżywić się kosztem / czerpać energię z other bacteria.

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"Like in the rainforest, we see predatorsdrapieżniki that just run in and grab, stab and kill other microbesdrobnoustroje," says Barton. "But we also see other microbesdrobnoustroje that work together to get nutrientsskładniki odżywcze and energy out of a system that otherwise wouldn't be able to yielddostarczać; wytwarzać enough energy to survive."

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The bacteria also have an even more surprising trick up their sleevew zanadrzu; jako ukryty atut – they are resistant to most antibiotics, despite the fact that they have been trapped in a cave that formed six million years ago, most of which was completely sealed off from humans until 1986. Not only is this resistance a remarkable natural phenomenonniezwykłe zjawisko naturalne, it is now helping guide researchers to drugs that can withstandwytrzymać; oprzeć się czemuś the onslaughtnawał; atak; gwałtowny napór of antimicrobialprzeciwdrobnoustrojowy resistance in modern medicinewspółczesna medycyna.

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But let's rewind slightlycofnijmy się trochę. Today, the emergencepojawienie się of antibiotic-resistantoporny na antybiotyki bacteria, often called "superbugssuperzarazki", is a growing global health crisisglobalny kryzys zdrowotny. These pathogenicpatogenny, disease-causingchorobotwórczy bacteria have developed resistanceoporność to multiple types of antibiotics, making infections harder to treattrudniejsze do leczenia. Bacterial antimicrobialprzeciwdrobnoustrojowy resistanceoporność (AMR) was found to be directly responsible forbezpośrednio odpowiedzialny za 1.14 million deaths in 2021, and an estimatedszacowany 39 million people are expected to die due to AMRz powodu AMR between 2025 and 2050. Already, it's estimatedszacowany that millions of children are dying each year from infections resistant to antibiotics.

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The cause of the AMR crisis is usually attributed to the misuseniewłaściwe stosowanie and overusenadmierne używanie of antimicrobialsśrodki przeciwdrobnoustrojowe in humans, animals and plants. Yet this isn't the whole picturecały obraz sytuacji. In 2006, for example, Gerard Wright, professor of biochemistrybiochemia and biomedicalbiomedyczny studies at McMaster University in Ontario, discovered soil-living bacteriabakterie żyjące w glebie packed full ofwypełniony po brzegi / pełen antibiotic resistance genesgeny oporności na antybiotyki. The mud-loving microbesdrobnoustroje żyjące w mule had the exact same resistanceoporność genes that are found in bacteria that cause disease in humans.

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"These were not pathogenicpatogenny; chorobotwórczy bacteria. They weren't causing diseasewywołujące chorobę. They were just sitting aroundbezczynnie siedzieć; obijać się minding their own businesszajmując się własnymi sprawami; nie wtrącając się," says Wright.

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This suggested that antimicrobialprzeciwdrobnoustrojowy resistanceoporność wasn't new and was in factw istocie, rzeczywiście hard-wiredwrodzony, zakodowany na stałe into many bacteria, a finding backed uppotwierdzone, wsparte by the fact that bacteria with resistanceoporność have also been found in glacial ice coresrdzenie lodowe z lodowca extractedwydobyte, wyekstrahowane from Antarctica, as well as the soils, seas and rocks of this isolatedodosobniony, odizolowany continentkontynent. AMR bacteria have also been discovered in ancientstarożytny, pradawny permafrostwieczna zmarzlina, as well in the gut bacteria of villagersmieszkańcy wioski from an isolatedodosobniony, odizolowany Amazonian jungledżungla tribeplemię.

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Yet Wright's finding by itself was not enough to convince the scientific communityśrodowisko naukowe that AMR had emergedpojawił się; wyłonił się without human contactbez kontaktu z człowiekiem. After all, the overusenadmierne używanie; nadużywanie of antibioticsantybiotyki in agriculturerolnictwo is well documenteddobrze udokumentowany; dobrze potwierdzony. The soil bacteriabakterie could have come into contactwejść w kontakt; zetknąć się with antibioticsantybiotyki this way.

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"We're living in the anthropogenicantropogeniczny, spowodowany działalnością człowieka age, so there's no place that is without evidence of human activity, whether you're at the top of Mount Everest or at the bottom of the Mariana Trench," says Wright.

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What was needed was a pristinenieskazitelny, dziewiczy environment. One that had been cut off from humansodcięty od ludzi for millenniatysiąclecia. Enter the Lechuguilla Cave. This cave formed millions of years ago from rainwater tricklingsącząc się, cieknąc cienkim strumieniem deep undergroundgłęboko pod ziemią. The water combined with hydrogen sulphidesiarczek in the depths of the Earth, creating sulphuric acidkwas siarkowy. The acid was then forcedwypchnięty, wymuszony upwards under immense pressurepod ogromnym ciśnieniem, dissolvingrozpuszczając, rozpuszczanie the limestonewapień as it went. Eventually the acid-rich waterwoda bogata w kwas hit a cap rockwarstwa przykrywająca skały, skała przykrywająca made of insolublenierozpuszczalny sandstone.

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"Because of that cap rockwarstwa skały stropowej, nothing can get into the cave," says Barton. "The caves formed millions of years ago, and it takes about 1,000 years for any surface waterwoda powierzchniowa to get to that part of the cave where we were samplingpobieranie próbek. It was also a newly discoveredniedawno odkryty passagekorytarz, przejście that we know no humans had ever been in before." 

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In other wordsinnymi słowy, there's no possibilitymożliwość that antibioticantybiotyk drugs could have washed into the caves. 

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Barton has been studying microscopicmikroskopijny life in caves for more than 20 years. She is one of the few people who have accessdostęp to the Lechuguilla Cave. So in 2012, she teamed up with Wright to investigatebadać, dociekać whether these microbes could be resistantodporny to antibiotics too. Barton went down into Lechuguilla Cave to collectzbierać, pobierać samples. The cave is over 1,200ft (366m) in depthna głębokości, so getting samples required abseiling down a dozen ropes. The effort was worth itwarto though. 

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"Not surprisinglyku zaskoczeniu; niespodziewanie, we found that all the microbesmikroby; drobnoustroje in there were resistantodporny to basically every natural antibiotic that's ever been used in the clinic," says Barton.

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This actually makes sense from an evolutionary perspectivez ewolucyjnego punktu widzenia.

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"The mechanismsmechanizmy, procesy działania and pathwaysszlaki, drogi przebiegu that lead to antibiotic resistanceoporność na antybiotyki don't form quickly," says Barton. "If you look at the structurestruktura, budowa of an antibiotic, that's a moleculecząsteczka that probably took hundreds of millions, if not billions of years to form, and so it's likely that resistance to those antibiotics is as old as the antibiotics themselves."

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The bacteriabakterie were still killed by syntheticsyntetyczny; sztuczny or semi-syntheticpółsyntetyczny antibiotics, however, as they had never been exposed tonarażony na; mający kontakt z them. 

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One microbedrobnoustrój, a non-pathogenicniepatogenny, niechorobotwórczy strainszczep of bacteria called Paenibacillus sp LC231, was resistantodporny to 26 of 40 antibiotics tested, including daptomycindaptomycyna, a relatively new antibiotic that is considered a last resortostateczność; środek stosowany w ostateczności against drug-resistant bacteriabakterie oporne na leki/antybiotyki like methicillin-resistantodporny Staphylococcusaureus (MRSA).

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The researchers sequencedzsekwencjonowali the entire genomegenom of Paenibacillus sp LC231, and found that many of the resistance genes were identicalidentyczny to those found in known drug-resistantoporny na leki / lekooporny bacteria. However, the team also identifiedzidentyfikowali five resistance genes that had never been encounterednapotkany before. Interestingly, a cousin ofbliski krewny / odpowiednik (w przenośni) the ancient, isolated Paenibacillus – a spore-formingtworzący przetrwalniki speciesgatunek found widely above groundnad ziemią / na powierzchni – also has the same resistance mechanismsmechanizmy. This means that resistance to antibiotics evolvedwyewoluowały / rozwinęły się before the bacteria were trappeduwięzione in the cave, not after. 

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"The punch linepuenta; najmocniejszy punkt wypowiedzi for us, and the reason why we were trying to do this, was to say that antibiotic resistanceoporność na antybiotyki is part of the natural historynaturalna historia; rozwój w toku ewolucji of microorganismsmikroorganizmy on the planet," says Wright.

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"Most antibiotics come from bacteria and fungigrzyby, so they've been making these and fighting with each otherwalcząc ze sobą for hundreds of millions, if not billions of years."

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According to Wright, for most of the Earth's history, antibiotic resistanceoporność has been confinedograniczony, zawężony to non-pathogenic strainsniepatogenne szczepy of bacteria – ones that don't cause disease. Our extensiverozległy, szeroko zakrojony use of antibioticsantybiotyki to treat infectionszakażenia, infekcje, however, has provided a strong selective pressurepresja selekcyjna that has encouragedsprzyjało, zachęciło pathogenic microbespatogenne drobnoustroje to adopt these defences too. As bacteria can quickly pass genes to each other, antimicrobialprzeciwdrobnoustrojowy resistanceoporność has spread fastrozprzestrzeniło się szybko.

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There may be something about the harshsurowy, niesprzyjający environment of caves that has encouraged the bacteria to keep and hone their defences, however. As nutrientsskładniki odżywcze and resources are so scarceniedostateczny, rzadki, skąpy, bacteria must compete with one anotherkonkurować ze sobą to survive, says Barton. Microbialmikrobiologiczny, drobnoustrojowy warfarewalka, wojna, wyniszczająca rywalizacja is a likely outcomeprawdopodobny skutek.

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"If you reducezmniejszać the number of resourceszasoby availabledostępny to a communityspołeczność, then it's going to get a lot more aggressivedużo bardziej agresywne, and there's going to be a lot more infightingwewnętrzne walki; kłótnie wewnątrz grupy in the way that microbesmikroby, drobnoustroje fight each otherwalczyć ze sobą," says Barton.

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True to formzgodnie z charakterem / jak zwykle, the biologists found cave microbes that were lobbing outwyrzucając / wytwarzając antibiotics left right and centrena potęgę, bez opamiętania. One specimenokaz; próbka; egzemplarz produced 38 different antimicrobialprzeciwdrobnoustrojowy compounds, with three novelnowy; nieznany wcześniej antibiotic structures.

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So could we use this new knowledge to help us in the fight against antimicrobial resistancewalka z opornością na środki przeciwdrobnoustrojowe?

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It's possible that uncoveringodkrywanie the treasure troveprawdziwa skarbnica of bacteria's secret arsenalarsenał, zasób środków could help produce new treatments. Traditionallytradycyjnie the way scientists have discovered new antibiotics is by going out into nature, taking samples from water and soils, and painstakinglymozolnie, z wielką starannością trying to purifyoczyszczać and extractwydobywać, wyizolować those compounds that might be beneficialkorzystny, dobroczynny. In 2025, Wright and his colleagues discovered a promisingobiecujący new class of anitbiotics in the soil. 

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Finding bacteria in isolatedodosobniony, izolowany, untouchednienaruszony, nietknięty areas could help with this, as it's possible that cave microbesmikroby z jaskiń could produce ancient antibioticsantybiotyki that surface bugsbakterie żyjące na powierzchni have long forgotten how to defend themselves againstbronić się przed – or never even encounterednapotkali, zetknęli się z. 

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For instance Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham, a microbiologistmikrobiolog at Thompson Rivers University in Canada, is aimingzamierzając to do just this. Over the last decadedekada, Cheeptham's team has exploredeksplorowała caves, taken soil samplespróbki gleby, and culturedhodowała the resultingpowstały bacteria in a petri dishszalka Petriego. The bacteria were then screenedprzebadano against known superbugsznane superbakterie oporne na leki to see ifżeby sprawdzić, czy the cave microbesmikroby could kill them.

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Cheeptham has so far tested more than 2,000 bacteria and has identifiedzidentyfikowała many promisingobiecujący candidateskandydaci, potencjalne opcje. For example, her team found two speciesgatunki of bacteria in the Iron Curtain Cave in Canada that could kill multidrug-resistantoporny na wiele leków strainsszczepy of Escherichia coliEscherichia coli, bakteria E. coli. She also discoveredodkryła five microbesdrobnoustroje, mikroby in the White Rabbit Cave, locatedpołożona, znajdująca się in the Monashee Mountain rangepasmo górskie in south-central British Columbia, that producedwytwarzały, produkowały antibioticsantybiotyki that were effectiveskuteczne against MRSAMRSA, bakteria oporna na antybiotyki.

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However, the lack of fundingbrak finansowania for antibiotic discovery researchbadania nad odkrywaniem antybiotyków has led to her pausingwstrzymywanie her search for new drugs, at least for nowprzynajmniej na razie.

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"We found potentialpotencjalny compoundszwiązki chemiczne, but it will take us a lot of time and financialfinansowy investmentinwestycja to get us to a point where pharmaceuticalfarmaceutyczny companies will work with us," says Cheeptham. "They [the promisingobiecujący candidates] are still in the refrigerator, so when we have money, we will look at them again." 

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Alternativelyalternatywnie; ewentualnie, cave microbesdrobnoustroje could help the fight against AMRoporność na środki przeciwdrobnoustrojowe by allowing scientists to predictprzewidywać; prognozować when bacteria might evolveewoluować; rozwijać się resistanceoporność to a new classklasa; grupa of antibioticsantybiotyki.

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"The first thing you need to know is, what are the mechanisms of resistancemechanizmy oporności that already exist out there?" says Wright.

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"Because if I'm going to discoverodkryć an antibioticantybiotyk tomorrow and I want to bring it to the clinicwprowadzić to do zastosowania klinicznego, it'd be a good idea for me to understand what its liabilities are, what its vulnerabilities are to what exists out there, because then you'll be better preparedlepiej przygotowany for the emergencepojawienie się; wyłonienie się of resistanceoporność; odporność, not if, but when it occurs."

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Common mechanismsmechanizmy of resistanceoporność; odporność include simple pumps that simply spit the antibioticantybiotyk back outwydostać z powrotem na zewnątrz; wyrzucać z siebie of the bacteria. While others involve much more complicatedzłożony; skomplikowany enzymesenzymy that either modifymodyfikować; zmieniać or somehow degraderozkładać; degradować; niszczyć the antibiotics. 

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Knowing how a bacteriumbakteria destroys the antibiotic could help scientists design new drugs to overcome its defencesmechanizmy obronne. For example, penicillin by itselfsam w sobie often doesn't work anymore, because many bacteria have an enzymeenzym that binds to the antibiotic and inactivatesunieszkodliwia it. However if you add a compoundzwiązek chemiczny called clavulanic acid, this molecule binds to the enzymeenzym instead and inhibitshamuje it. So by adding clavulanic acid to penicillin, you counteractprzeciwdziałać the resistance mechanismmechanizm, and penicillin works again. It's hoped that identifying similar processes in cave bacteria could therefore give medical researchers a powerful advantage.

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"By figuring out what mechanismmechanizm; sposób działania a microorganismmikroorganizm might use to overcomepokonać; przezwyciężyć an antibioticantybiotyk, you can actually figure outustalić; dojść do tego; rozgryźć how to defeatpokonać; udaremnić it before it ever shows up in the clinicklinika; przychodnia," says Barton.

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