There expanse trillion speciesalive today , at least – and most of them are microbial , which make finding them a niggling tricksy . flock of them are hiding in the oceans , pile , cave , swamp , forests , and even sky of the cosmos , and some can be found quite literally right under our nose .
Just last twelvemonth , a new superbug - kill , antibiotic - producing bacteria was discover hidingwithin our nasal cavities . Now , according to a new study in the journalImmunity , a raw ( and luckily beneficial ) form of bacteria has been found in the lining of the eyes of mouse . Related strains of bacterium have been found in the optic of man , so it ’s likely this young species is dwell in our ( literal ) business of sight too .
This bacteria , Corynebacterium mastitidis , seems to help these lucky mouse resist off various pathogens , particularly bacterial conjunctivitis – also love as “ pinkish eye ” . Far from just attacking the invading bacteria themselves , this friendly bug appear to be doing something rather more interesting .
computer mouse that put up from pinkish middle tend to lack an immune molecule namedIL-17 , which registers the appearance of a uncongenial pathogen and process resistant cells to neutralise them . The coarse strains of mouse that have IL-17 also seem to haveC. mastitidisin significant quantities , and they appear to be set off an IL-17 reply themselves , which protect the eye from contracting pinkeye .
Make no mistake : Every part of us , inside and out , is diffuse with bacteria , both beneficial and hostile .
The mucose tissue layer that cover the front of the eye , the conjunctiva , are home to a range of bacteria despite the fact that our semi - sterilizing rent make clean them every time we blink . In fact , there are so many species swimming around on them that they organise a veritable “ microbiome ” , a microscopic and biodiverse earth of interact bacterium – just like the one in ourdigestive system .
This “ ocular microbiome ” has been found to contain strains of a large assortment of bacterial deoxyribonucleic acid before , but plenty of these results have been hotly argue . Contamination of samples is simply too likely in most cases .
“ People have been find bacterial DNA on the human eye but no one has presented data-based proof that these bacterium actually inhabit there , ” aged atomic number 27 - author Rachel Caspi , an immunologist at the National Institutes of Health ( NIH ) , enounce in astatement .
This study or else took swab samples of the conjunctiva of these mice ’s middle and then cultured the bacterium samples in the lab to once and for all evidence that they exist . C. mastitidiswas one of those that come forth from the slime .
If the same strain is find oneself in human eyes , these bacteria could be used to immunize vulnerable people from bacterial conjunctivitis .
[ H / T : Gizmodo ]
