Bedbugs and a Model of Evolution

Surprisingly Bedbugs have more importance than the itchy rash developed when bitten by one of these monsters or the infestation of your home. They have become a model of evolution showing how bedbugs are actually becoming a new species in front of our eyes. Warren Booth, a biologist at the University of Tulsa and a co-author of the new study, states, "For something that is so hated by so many people, it might just be a perfect model organism for evolutionary questions". Bedbugs basically dissapeared in the 1940s due to the creation of DDT. However, the pest has returned rapidly in the past decade because it has evolved resistance to pesticides. Researchers including Dr. Booth have teamed up with exterminators to extract and preserve the species of bedbugs in alcohol that can later be used to extract the DNA to observe how the species is changing. 

Cimex lectularius (the common bedbug) feeds on humans and bats. Dr. Booth collected bedbugs from human households as well as bedbugs from bat roosts in houses and churches over seas. DNA sequences from 214 bedbugs were compared and found that they were very genetically distinct from one another. The history dates back to the first encounter a human had with bedbugs in caves and served as the new hosts. As time went on humans left there cave dwellings and began settling in new environments which forced the bedbugs to adapt. Adaptations to feeding on humans include longer, thinner legs because the no longer had to hang on to bats or that bedbugs that have switched there attention to humans have shorter life spans than those who feed on only bats. According to Dr. Booth, "Many bedbugs that feed on humans carry a genetic variation that makes them resistant to pesticides but, the bedbugs on bats still carry a version of the gene susceptible to pesticides."

I consider this article very interesting because we are living in a time of advanced science allowing us to experience evolution. Whether it is bedbugs or human beings evolution is happening all around us. These little insects are close to evolving into a new species different from its bat-feeding ancestors. In our life-time how many times will we be able to add a new branch to Darwin's tree of life. Who's to say more species lacking the research are going through the same changes. Its all very exciting and I hope to experience more evolutionary changes in my life time.

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