This bacteria was found in the seas of Valparaíso.
An investigation led by Fernanda Claverías, Civil Environmental Engineer at the Federico Santa María Technical University and doctor of Sciences with a mention in Microbiology, revealed the existence of a new species of marine bacteria that has potential as an antibiotic.
Claverías, who is also a researcher at the “Dr. Daniel Alkalay Lowitt” has been researching a bacterial group known as “Actinomycetotas” for years. On this occasion, his work led her to the discovery of a new species of these bacteria, which she named “Spiractinospora alimapuensis”, found on Las Torpederas beach in Valparaíso.
The researcher highlighted the importance of this finding, since according to her, the antibiotics that are involved in human health have a bacterial origin and come from Actinomycetota.
“It is an alkalophilic and halotolerant bacteria. This means that it prefers alkaline pH conditions and can grow without salt, but it develops better in higher salinity conditions.which suggests that it is very adapted to the marine environment, since the sea is slightly alkaline,” explained the researcher.
The expert also pointed out that the next step in her research is to decipher the genetics of the bacteria and perform cultures to identify if this bacteria actually produces compounds with antibiotic potential. “We analyze the genome to see if there are genes that produce compounds that can be bioactive or antibiotics in this case,” he indicated. and added that they will culture the bacteria to test if they generate other antibiotic compounds.
Finally, Claverías indicated that “in the case of my research, in this bacteria I have not found any known antibiotic, however, what I have been able to see through bioinformatics are potential compounds that would have very interesting modifications on which I am focusing to “to see if, indeed, there is antimicrobial, or even antitumor, activity.”
