The Mighty Cockroaches

           Cockroaches eat just about anything in your home from feces to glue, and can live for a week without its own head. The American cockroach is the largest common house cockroach. Cockroaches can run extremely fast and fly short distances. These insects were genetically sequenced by Chinese scientists. The sequence is larger than the human genome. “Little mighty” is a nickname created for cockroaches by the Chinese, meaning that it is tiny but has strength and liveliness. Because of the cockroach’s need for a large range of proteins, they have a lot of genes. The cockroach has over 1,000 genes just to help detect chemical cues from the environment. Cockroaches also have over 300 genes just to perceive bitter tastes which leads to them knowing what foods are safe or poisonous. Cockroaches go through something called eusociality, which is when organisms cooperate through sophisticated division of labor. Eusociality proves the simple intelligence of these termites. This study of the genome of cockroach leads to the hopeful uncovering of medical treatments being tested on cockroaches or extracted, which has been done for a long time in traditional Chinese medicine.

 

Article: In a Cockroach Genome, ‘Little Mighty’ Secrets

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/20/science/american-cockroach-genome.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science&region=stream&module=stream_unit&version=search&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront

related article: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-03281-1