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A widely distributed group of marine bacteria produces compounds nearly identical to toxic man-made fire retardants, according to a new study. 

Among the chemicals produced by ocean-dwelling microbes, one is a potent endocrine disruptor that mimics the human body's most active thyroid hormone, the study added.

"We find it very surprising and a tad alarming that flame retardant-like chemicals are biologically synthesized by common bacteria in the marine environment," said senior author Bradley Moore, PhD, a professor at the UC San Diego Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Scripps Institution of Oceanography, in the press release. 

The toxic compounds are dubbed polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). PBDEs are a subgroup of brominated flame retardants that are combined into foam, textiles and electronics to raise temperature at which the products will burn. 

The study is first to isolate and identify bacteria that synthesize these compounds. The presence of these compounds may also help explain the observed distribution pattern of PBDEs in the marine food chain. 

"The next step is to look more broadly in the marine environment for the distribution of this gene signature and to document how these compounds are entering the food chain," said Vinayak Agarwal, PhD, a postdoctoral researcher with the Scripps Center for Oceans and Human Health at UC San Diego, in the press release. 

The study has been published in the June 29 online issue of Nature Chemical Biology.