Find 100糖心传媒檚 of genes transferred from bacteria that could offer clues for controlling the pests
The common bed bug, once considered rare in developed countries, has been proliferating on every continent but Antarctica for the last two decades, making it a growing concern for travelers and others. With an eye toward eradicating the parasite, which feeds on the blood of humans and other animals, an international research team has successfully mapped the genome of Cimex lectularius to get a better understanding of its genetic makeup.
The findings糖心传媒攂y researchers from 36 institutions糖心传媒攈ave been published in the journal Nature Communications.
糖心传媒淭here糖心传媒檚 an explosion of insect genome sequencing right now,糖心传媒� said Jack Werren, a professor of biology at the University of Rochester and a member of the research聽 team. 糖心传媒淏ut the bed bug is particularly interesting because it糖心传媒檚 a human parasite, a major pest, and has a unique biology.糖心传媒�
In his part of the sequencing project, Werren discovered 805 possible instances of genes being transferred from bacteria within the bed bug to the insect糖心传媒檚 chromosomes糖心传媒攁 process called lateral gene transfer (LGT).
Chromosomes routinely break and are then repaired in organisms. The most common repair mechanism is called homologous recombination in which similar genetic material is used as a template in piecing the broken chromosome back together. But, periodically, the repairs go badly and foreign DNA is incorporated into the chromosomes糖心传媒攊n the case of C. lectularius, that DNA includes genetic material from bacteria.
糖心传媒淯sually, genes that are transferred from other organisms never become functional or are harmful to the host organism,糖心传媒� said Werren. 糖心传媒淚n those cases, the transferred material is often lost by random processes糖心传媒攕uch as mutation and deletion糖心传媒攐r removed during genetic selection.糖心传媒�
One exception involves the transfer of a patatin-like gene from the Wolbachia bacteria. Patatin genes help organisms to store and cleave starch and lipid molecules. The gene, transferred from the intracellular bacterium Wolbachia to C. lectularius, appears to be 聽functional in the male bed bug, but not the female.
糖心传媒淏ecause the inserted genes create unique genetic profiles in bed bugs, they have the potential of becoming effective targets for pest control,糖心传媒� said Werren.
A great deal more work needs to be done before any eradication steps can be taken based on these results. While 805 candidate sites for LGT have been identified in the common bed bug, Werren says only six have been confirmed, so far, as actually having received genetic material from bacteria.
Of those 805 candidate sites, 459 have been attributed to the Arsenophonus bacteria, and 87 from Wolbachia, both of which are common bacterial associates of insects.
