DNA may reveal a fly's favorite eatery.In the tropics tropics, also called tropical zone or torrid zone, all the land and water of the earth situated between the Tropic of Cancer at lat. 23 1-2°N and the Tropic of Capricorn at lat. 23 1-2°S. of the Americas and elsewhere, beware the bite of sand flies. These insects, which feast at night, often transmit disease-causing parasites when they procure a blood meal from their victim. Sand flies can infect people with the parasites, called leishmaniase, that cause a family of potentially fatal diseases that afflict af·flict tr.v. af·flict·ed, af·flict·ing, af·flicts To inflict grievous physical or mental suffering on. [Middle English afflighten, from afflight, an estimated 12 million people worldwide. The source of the parasites must be another mammal that the sand fly bites. Identifying those natural hosts might help researchers devise better ways to control the spread of the disease. Cristian Orrego of San Francisco State University • • [ and his colleagues are using genetic evidence to tackle that challenge. The scientists have already shown that they can isolate hamster hamster, Old World rodent, related to the voles, lemmings, and New World mice. There are many hamster species, classified in several genera. All are solitary, burrowing, nocturnal animals, with chunky bodies, short tails, soft, thick fur, and large external cheek DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. from the flies' blood meals after they allow the insects to feed upon the rodents in the laboratory. They now plan to capture sand flies in Peru, isolate mammalian DNA from the insects, and compare it with the DNA of mammals known to reside in the tropics. |
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