Researchers at VistaMilk are in the early stages of analysing samples of Irish pasture with the aim of identifying the genetic characteristics of microbes to prevent disease and improve food security.
Researchers at the VistaMilk SFI Research Centre in Fermoy, Co. Cork, in association with researchers in Wexford and Galway are examining how the genetic characteristics of microbes interact with their environment, cycle nutrients and help plants grow, and how they develop and transmit antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The project will use ‘metagenomics’, which allow scientists to study all the tiny life forms in the soil at once and provide a more complete picture.
According to the researchers, the project will then use terabytes of computer processing power to put it all back together, with the goal being to develop a testing system that can identify the beneficial microbes in any soil sample received.
Researchers described the project as “the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle”, which will ultimately develop a quick system to assess soil health.
VistaMilk researcher
The PhD student leading the research, Rose Edwin said that an understanding of the soil microbiome is “as important” as the understandings of food, human and animal microbiomes, but with “far greater implications” for human health than previously thought.
“Similar to other microbiomes, there are microbes – bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa, and viruses – that perform specific tasks and identifying them and their presence in soils is of major importance,” Edwin said.
She added that the researchers are also working on identifying antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the soil microbiome where, over billions of years of evolution, microbes have developed resistance to antibiotics or other drugs.
“Soils are the source of many of the antibiotics we use clinically and a natural reservoir of AMR, but AMR can also be transmitted to the soil, and potentially into the food chain, through human activity,” she said.
“The ability to address AMR would prevent large numbers of avoidable deaths and would save billions in medical care costs.
“A report by the World Bank Group notes that a high-case AMR scenario may cause low-income countries to lose more than 5% of GDP [gross domestic product] and force more than 28 million people into poverty by 2050,” Edwin added.