Overall, the team analysed 61 unknown bacterial pathogens found in blood or tissue samples from patients with a wide range of medical conditions
A team
of scientists has discovered 35 new species of bacteria, some of which can
cause infections in humans.
The
team from the University of Basel and the University Hospital Basel in
Switzerland has been collecting and analysing patient samples containing such
unknown germs since 2014.
Overall,
the team analysed 61 unknown bacterial pathogens found in blood or tissue
samples from patients with a wide range of medical conditions.
Conventional
laboratory methods, such as mass spectroscopy or sequencing a small part of the
bacterial genome, had failed to produce results for all these isolates. That is
why the researchers sequenced the complete genetic material of the bacteria using
a method that has only been available for a few years.
They
then compared the identified genome sequences with known strains in an online
tool.
Out of
61 analysed bacteria, 35 were previously unknown. The researchers classified
the remaining 26 strains as hard to identify—either their genome sequences had
only been added to databases recently or a correct taxonomic description of the
pathogens had only been created a very short time ago.
An
evaluation of the patient data showed that seven out of the 35 new strains were
clinically relevant, meaning that they can cause bacterial infections in
humans.
“Such
direct links between newly identified species of bacteria and their clinical
relevance have rarely been published in the past,” said microbiologist Dr. Daniel
Goldenberger from the varsity.
Most of
the newly identified species belong to the Corynebacterium and Schaalia genera,
both gram-positive bacilli.
“Many
species in these two genera are found in the natural human skin microbiome and
the mucosa.
This is
why they are frequently underestimated, and research into them is sparse, said
Goldenberger.
They
can, however, cause infections when they enter into the bloodstream—due to a
tumour, for example.
Bacterial
infections can be treated more efficiently if the cause of the disease is
known.
In most
cases, all it takes to identify a pathogen is an analysis in a medical
laboratory. Sometimes, however, the standard methods are insufficient—for
example, if the species of bacteria has not yet been classified or is
particularly difficult to grow.
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