2024-09-16 17:28:07
Ants of the Megaponera analis species, which are widespread south of the Sahara, have a limited diet: They only eat termites. Their hunting expeditions are dangerous because soldier termites defend their fellows using their powerful jaws. As a result, the ants are often bitten while hunting.
If wounds become infected, the risk of survival is considerable. However, these ants have developed a sophisticated sanitation system: they can distinguish between infected and non-infected wounds and effectively treat the former with antibiotics that they themselves produce.
This has been confirmed by a team made up of, among others, Erik Frank, from the University of Wurzburg in Germany, and Laurent Keller, from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.
For treatment, the ants apply antimicrobial compounds and proteins to infected wounds. They take these antibiotics from the metapleural gland, located on the side of the thorax. The secretion contains 112 components, half of which have an antimicrobial or wound-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 treatments of wounds,” Frank emphasises. Keller adds that these findings “have medical implications because the main pathogen of ant wounds, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is also a major cause of infection in humans, with several strains resistant to antibiotics.”
Are ants of the Megaponera analis species unique in their 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 ant species and other social animals.
The researchers also want to identify and analyse 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 has been published in the academic journal Nature Communications.
Fuente: NCYT de Amazings