HEAT-loving bacteria from deep-sea vents could soon be protecting your skin
from the ravages of the summer sun.
Using bacteria that have been harvested from the hydrothermal
vents鈥攁lso known as black smokers鈥攁 French cosmetics company has
developed a 鈥渟mart鈥� ingredient for sun lotions that increases skin protection as
the temperature rises.
Few organisms can survive at the high temperatures and pressures that are
found in hydrothermal vents, yet they remain home to myriads of microbes. Among
these is Thermus thermophilus, a bacterium that thrives at around 75
掳C. Now cosmetics company Sederma of Le Perray-en-Yvelines near Paris hopes
to use T. thermophilus to make a range of skincare products, using bugs
gathered from vents 2 kilometres down on the bottom of the Pacific鈥檚 Gulf of
California.
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The ingredient that Sederma will put into its products is produced through a
fermentation process using T. thermophilus, but since the process is
subject to a patent application, the company will not reveal what else gets
thrown into the pot.
However, project member Olga Gracioso claims the result is 鈥渁 cocktail of
proteins鈥� including enzymes that are particularly effective at mopping up a
variety of highly reactive chemical complexes called free radicals, such as
negatively charged superoxide anions (O2鈥�). These highly reactive
chemicals are produced by exposure to ultraviolet light and are known to be
involved in reactions that damage the skin.
At deep-sea vents, sulphide gushes out and mixes with oxygenated seawater,
creating free radicals
(快猫短视频, 20 March 1999, p 6).
So it is perhaps no surprise that the microbial denizens of vents have effective ways of
dealing with these highly reactive complexes. But unlike normal enzymes, those
from deep-sea vent microbes often work well at higher temperatures.
Sederma says its new ingredient can mop up hydrogen peroxide three times as
effectively at 40 掳C as at 25 掳C. So it hopes that over the next few
years, cosmetics manufacturers will use its ingredient to make skincare products
whose efficacy increases with temperature, says Gracioso.
The product seems to be particularly effective at preventing ultraviolet
damage to fibroblasts鈥攖he cells that make the collagen and elastin
proteins that keep skin durable. Gracioso speculates that it may protect
fibroblasts by preventing a process called lipoperoxidation, in which UV rays
damage the phospholipid molecules that form cell membranes. 鈥淚t is possibly
better than vitamin E, which is used in many cosmetic preparations for a similar
effect,鈥� she told 快猫短视频.
The company obtained the bacteria under a cooperative agreement with CNRS,
the French national research agency, which granted it rights to exploit certain
deep-ocean bacterial strains collected on various expeditions.