2024-03-23 01:13:02
Ants of the species Megaponera analis, widespread south of the Sahara, have a reduced diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because soldier termites defend their conspecifics, and to do so they use their powerful jaws. For this reason, it is common for ants to be injured by bites during hunting.
If the wounds become infected, the risk of survival is considerable. However, these ants have developed a sophisticated health system: they can distinguish between infected and non-infected wounds and effectively treat the former with antibiotics that they themselves produce.
This has been verified by the team made up of, among others, Erik Frank, from the University of Würzburg in Germany, and Laurent Keller, from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
For treatment, ants apply antimicrobial compounds and proteins to infected wounds. They take these antibiotics from the metapleural gland, located on the side of the chest. The secretion contains 112 components, half of which have an antimicrobial or healing effect. The therapy is highly effective: the mortality rate of infected individuals is reduced by 90%, the research team found.
“With the exception of humans, I don’t know of any other living being that can carry out such sophisticated medical treatment of wounds,” Frank emphasizes. Keller also adds that these findings “have medical implications because the main ant wound pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is also a leading cause of infection in humans, with several strains resistant to antibiotics.”
Are ants of the species Megaponera analis unique in this ability to administer medical care that includes drugs? The authors of the study hope to be able to answer this question in the future, after investigating other species of ants and other social animals.
The researchers also want to identify and analyze the antibiotics used by Megaponera analis ants. This could lead to the discovery of new antibiotics that could also be used in humans.
The study is titled “Targeted treatment of injured nestmates with antimicrobial compounds in an ant society.” And it has been published in the academic journal Nature Communications.
Fuente: NCYT de Amazings