Australian Scientists Just Found Superbugs That Could Both Save The Planet, And Kill Us All

A team of Australian scientists just discovered something lurking inside “superbugs” that could both help save the planet, and make us all very, very sick. You win some, you lose some.

“Superbugs” are bacteria that can fight off antiseptics and antibiotics. No one knows quite how they turn from regular bacteria into superbugs. But the same way they fight the things that should kill them, could help make a whole new “green” generation of plastics. Eco-friendly Ooshies, anyone?

How Exactly Do Superbugs Fight Antiseptics And Antibiotics?

Back in 2013, Professor Ian Paulsen from Macquarie University and his team discovered a bacteria that could resist a powerful, hospital-grade antiseptic the World Health Organisation called “essential medicine”. This was strong stuff. The bacteria could endure the antiseptic because of a tiny protein that sits its surface, pumping out any that gets inside.

That particular protein has been around for yonks — it’s considered ancient — but the antiseptic it was rejecting was only invented in the 1900s. This means that protein’s main job isn’t to fight the antiseptic — it’s a relatively new side gig.

This protein is going to be the reason more of us get sick in the future, powering superbugs resistant to whatever we throw at them, spreading illness all over the planet. Yay!

There is some good news, though.

So What Does This Have To Do With Eco-Plastics?

If this protein can pump an antibiotic designed to kill a bacteria straight up and out of it that only existed relatively recently, what else can it pump? That was what this latest study looked at, with researchers ultimately describing the protein as “promiscuous”. It can transport a “wide range” of substances, including those used to create eco-plastics.

Yes, what I’m telling you here is that we can use a protein on a superbug in an industrial scenario, kick-starting the process of biodegradable plastic production.

The very thing that could kill us could save our planet. Thanks, Australian scientists.

Photo by Chokniti Khongchum from Pexels

Source: Scimex