Sloths pave the way for antibiotics – 5/2/2023 – Science

Costa Rican sloths have been shown to have bacteria in their fur capable of producing antibiotics that keep pathogens that can make the animal sick at bay. Could this discovery have application in humans?

Researcher Max Chavarría, from the University of Costa Rica, tries to answer this question after discovering a unique biome of insects, fungi, algae and bacteria in the fur of these peculiar tropical mammals, in a delicate balance that prevents diseases.

“If you see the fur of a sloth, you see movement, you see moths, different types of insects (…), we have a very wide habitat and, clearly, when many types of organisms coexist, it must there are also systems that control them,” Chavarría explained to AFP.

The researcher verified that they are “microorganisms capable of producing antibiotics that allow regulating the presence of pathogenic agents in the coat” of sloths.

“These are bacteria belonging to the order of micrococcales, mainly of the Rothia and Brevibacterium genera”, specifies the researcher, whose discovery was published in the scientific journal Environmetal Microbiology.

After discovering these antibiotics in animals, Chavarría questions whether his discovery might have medicinal uses to help counteract the antibiotic resistance that humans develop.

Laziness is part of the collective imagination in Costa Rica, a national emblem and a natural attraction for tourists.

There are two species in the country: Bradypus variegatus, or three-toed sloth, and Choloepus hoffmanni, two-toed sloth.

The population of both species is in a situation of “reduction”, according to the Red List of Threatened Species of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

There are also sloths in the forests of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

In the Caribbean area of ​​Costa Rica is located the sloth sanctuary Cahuita, created by the American Judy Avey and her late Costa Rican husband, Luis Arroyo.

At the sanctuary, sloths injured by humans or other animals are rehabilitated.

Chavarría turned to Avey to use some animals in his research. The animals at the site were undergoing rehabilitation after being electrocuted by high voltage cables, run over by vehicles, attacked by dogs or separated from their mothers as children.

“We never get a sloth sick (…). Some have burns from high voltage cables and their arms are destroyed,” says Avey. However, “they don’t have an infection (…), that tells us that there is something in their body’s ecosystem”, he adds.

Chavarría cut the hair on the backs of 15 animals of the same species to examine the samples in the laboratory, grow them and confirm his hypothesis.

The researcher launched his study in 2020 and, three years later, he already has “defined” 20 “candidate” microorganisms to be identified. However, before even thinking about the human application, there are still many steps to go.

“Before thinking of an application in human health, it is first important to understand the system and what types of molecules are involved”, says the researcher, who believes that nature is a natural laboratory.

“The search for new strategies to combat resistance to antibiotics was left to the academy”, highlights Chavarría.

The World Health Organization estimates that by 2050 antibiotic resistance could cause 10 million deaths a year.

“That’s why projects like ours can contribute to finding new molecules that can, in the medium or long term, be used in this battle that we are fighting for resistance to antibiotics”, he adds.