Thursday, March 17, 2016

Bed Bugs on the Subway?












In a new study published in Nature Communications, scientists have successfully mapped the genome of bed bugs throughout New York City and traced fragments of their DNA through the subway system. Interestingly enough, scientists found that genetic traces of these insects in northern Manhattan are rather closely related to those of southern Manhattan, while there are bigger variations amongst bed bugs in the Upper West and East side. Christopher Mason, a geneticist said the reason for this could be found by looking at the subway map, where trains run north to south and not entirely east to west. To learn about how the bedbug has evolved and spread, the New York team took DNA sample swabs from 1,400 city locations including subway cars, turnstiles, ticket vending kiosks, and aboveground sites such as parks. Ultimately, Dr. Armato an evolutionary biologist who collaborated with Dr. Mason explained there were various ways the bed bug’s DNA could wind up on the subway such as clinging on to the clothes of the six million daily riders or simply being washed down into the station. 


This article was interesting because of fact there was great diversity amongst bedbugs in New York City and that the reason behind this could be because they also ride the subway with us. Although not entirely surprising, it brings up a valid reason to watch your back next time you ride the subway.

4 comments:

  1. This article holds some interesting and useful finding about bedbugs. The fact that New York city had a wide diverse range of bed bugs was interesting to know. This article has also alarmed me about bed bugs next time I ride on the subway.

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  2. This is a very interesting article. I would like to see more research on it.

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  3. New York City is a terrible place to begin with but hearing this now I don think ill ever go back. Just like bed bugs there was a study like this with rats and it turned out the populations not connected by subway line had some different genetic variation, just like the bed bugs.

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  4. It is odd that bedbugs are roaming around subways, because they are mostly known to be found in carpets, pillows, blankets, beds, etc. The subway is metal so I wouldn't expect them to stay there, but it makes sense that they would get there from clinging on to peoples' clothes. This is creating more diversity and allowing them to become more fit, unfortunately.

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