Within the scope of the Third National Antarctic Science Expedition - Bilateral Collaborations, Erciyes University (ERU), Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathology faculty member Prof. Dr. Latife ÇAKIR BAYRAM participated in the expedition in the 2018 - 2019 Antarctic Season with her project titled “The cytological, microbiological and ophthalmic evaluation of samples of ocular surface from the Antarctic Peninsula penguins”. Within the scope of the project, studies were carried out on the coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula, Chilean science bases and research vessel. A total of 100 penguin ocular surface samples were collected as scientific samples.
Prof. Çakır detected an exophytic tissue in the right eye of a Gentoo penguin (Pygoscelis papua) living in the region and took samples from both eyes of this penguin for microbiological and pathological examinations. After returning to our country, the microbiological analysis of the samples was carried out in the Microbiology Laboratory of ERU Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the pathological analysis was carried out in the Pathology Laboratory of ERU Faculty of Veterinary Medicine.
In the microbiological analysis of the samples, five different bacteria were isolated from the penguin’s right eye using culture-based methods. Phenotypic and molecular methods were used to identify the isolated bacteria. Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis and phylogenetic analysis of these bacteria, it was determined that they showed a similarity of less than .75 in the GenBank database, and it was determined that the five bacteria obtained have the potential to represent a new genus, species, or taxon not previously described worldwide. The 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis results for these bacteria have been deposited in GenBank. Work is ongoing to assign genus and species names to these bacteria, and Turkish researchers will be the first in the world to name them. An article detailing the microbiological and pathological findings related to this topic, including preliminary data on the isolated bacteria, has been prepared and is currently under review in a journal indexed in the Science Citation Index.
These 5 bacteria, which have the potential to be new genera, species or taxa, belong to only one penguin eye sample and the analysis of 100 ocular surface samples collected in the study is ongoing.
Note: All research within the scope of the National Antarctic Science Expeditions are carried out with appropriate and correct procedures within the framework of the Antarctic Environmental Protection Protocol, no living creatures are harmed in the studies, and all national and international documents, including ethical permits, are approved before the expedition.
