By James Pero For The Dailymail
Published: 20:01 GMT, 26 March 2019 | Updated: 23:45 GMT, 26 March 2019
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Assumptions about the migration of bacteria, traditionally thought to happen via human and animal carriers, may be incomplete, according the new research.
A new study has found that microbes can also travel thousands of miles through the air.
The scientists' hypothesis, referred to as the 'air bridge,' is based on the fact that DNA sequences found in bacteria of disparate hot springs across the world turned out to be identical.
Researchers ruled out the spread of bacteria via birds by studying microbes in super-heated water across the world.
'Our research suggests that there must be a planet-wide mechanism that ensures the exchange of bacteria between faraway places,' said senior author Konstantin Severinov, a principal investigator at the Waksman Institute of Microbiology.
The researchers studied a type of bio-signature known as bacterial 'memory' that shows how bacteria interacts with viruses.
According to the scientists, 'memories' are passed down from bacteria infected by a virus through regions of bacterial DNA called CRISPR Arrays.
By studying the order of the 'memories,' researchers can track exactly how bacteria interacts with nearby viruses, giving it a type of recognizable signature.
While researchers expected the geographically disparate bacteria studied in the test to contain vastly different memories, what they found instead was that many shared the same history.
Birds and other animals were ruled out of the equation due to the fact that the bacteria studied come only from extremely hot water.
'Because the bacteria we study live in very hot
