Researchers from CIQUIBIC discover a local bacterium that grows in an environment contaminated by heavy metals
The Dr. Andrea Smania beside Adela Lujan and Sofia Feliziani, members of his research group at the CIQUIBIC, They described the genome of a bacterial strain isolated from soil yard a garage in the neighborhood Las Flores city of Cordoba. There, the shop owner threw the used oil from cars , a hazardous waste because it contains high levels of heavy metals and hydrocarbons.
Dr.. Smania and his team identified in this sample the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, one present in soil and water environmental bacterium but is also an opportunistic pathogen in humans responsible 10% of hospital infections. In the interest of understanding how this cordobesa bacteria had such adaptability, managed sequenced genome and identifying the presence of "cassettes" of genes that enable them to resist heavy metals. This information can be very useful for researchers working on bioremediation and also to understand how the pathogen infects humans and resist the action of antibiotics. The work was recently published in the journal Genome Announcements, Microbiology Society US.
Dr. Andrea Smania, together with Adela Luján and Sofia Feliziani, members of their research group at CIQUIBIC, described the genome of a bacterial strain isolated from the floor of a mechanical workshop at “Las Flores” neighborhood in the city of Córdoba. There, the workshop owner threw the used car oil, a very hazardous waste as it contains high levels of heavy metals and hydrocarbons.
Dr. Smania and her team identified in this sample the presence of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, an environmental bacterium present in soil and water but also an opportunistic human pathogen responsible for the 10% of nosocomial infections. With the interest of understanding how this local bacterium had such adaptive capacity, they were able to sequence their genome and identify the presence of “cassettes” of genes that allow bacteria to resist heavy metals. This information is not only very useful for researchers working in the bioremediation field but also to understand how the pathogen infects humans and resists the action of antibiotics. The work was recently published in the journal “Genome Announcements", of the Society of Microbiology of the United States.
Source: La Voz del Interior (see complete journalistic note; spanish only)