- 2108 -
- Mites are the
smallest insects , or arthropods , that live on our bodies. They live in our eye lashes and eye
brows. The geographical distribution of these
mite's DNA may create a whole new map of how human populations were diverging
across the globe.
-
-
-
------------------ 2108 - Mites Living with Us
-
- Mites are the
smallest insects , or arthropods , that live on our bodies. They live in our eye lashes and eye
brows. Thousands of them have been with
each of us since birth. They are called
Demodex as a species. They are eight
legged arthropods that live in your hair follicles eating your dead skin. They have been living with each of us since
birth.
-
- Science has
just begun analyzing the DNA of these face mites. We now know that they have even been with us
since human history began. As human
history spread across the planet these mites too reproduced from generation to
generation on our bodies. They evolved
alongside our own evolution. They
carried their own distinct lineages the same as we did over this entire history.
-
- Today there
are distinct lineages of mites corresponding to distinct strains in Africa,
Asia, Latin America, and Europe. This DNA research has traced face mites
lineage to a common ancestor dating back to 3,000,000 years ago. This history coincided with the appearance of
the first Homo genus.
-
- The mites
living on your face have their own lineage because they were living off your
ancestors too. We inherited our face
mites through close contacts at birth and being spread through close family
members. Each strain of mites has
evolved and adapted to our own facial ecosystem. For example, African mites would likely not
survive on a person of North American descent.
-
- This brings
up the idea that a person's ancestry can be determined by the genetic makeup of
the mites living with them.
-
- Some early
determinations of these studies have found from DNA that African and Asians
strains are the most similar. They have
found European mites to have their DNA most wide spread across the globe. It is likely that these European face mites
traveled the world with the earlier explorers.
-
- This study is
just beginning. The geographical
distribution of mite's DNA may create a whole new map of how human populations
were diverging across the globe.
-
- Did I just
catch you scratching your face?.
-
- More to learn
about who is living with you:
-
- There are
only two species of eyelash mites that live on humans. Different species of animals host different
species of Demodex. Demodex Canis lives
on the domestic dog. All in all there
are 65 known species of different Demodex so far identified.
-
- Face mites
were first discovered in 1842. The adult
mites are only 0.012 to 0.016 inches long.
They have semitransparent bodies that are elongated with two
segments. Their bodies are covered with
scales that allow them to anchor themselves to our bodies. They have eight short segmented legs. They have mouth parts that eat skin cells and
oils that accumulate in hair follicles.
They slowly walk around our skin especially at night because they try to
avoid the light.
-
- Face mites
live for several weeks. They reproduce
from male and female parents. The
female's eggs are laid inside the hair follicles. The eggs hatch into larvae in
four days and develop into adults in seven days.
-
- Think about
it. These generations have been reproducing
on us for 3 million years. Amazing!
-
- See Review 1837
about Microbes.
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--------------------- Monday, October 1, 2018 -------------------------
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