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A trio of researchers at the University of Wisconsin has discovered that a common soil bacterium produces a chemical that is more effective in repelling mosquitoes than DEET[*].
[...] The researchers report that their study began with Xenorhabdus budapestensis, a type of bacteria that takes up residence in soil-dwelling nematodes. The nematodes actually use the bacteria to help them parasitize insects. The researchers wanted to learn more about how the bacteria help kill insects and, in the process, found that mosquitoes were quite averse to its presence.
[...] Further testing showed that the chemical was up to three times more repellent than DEET. The team also found that high concentrations of the chemical served well as a repellent, while small concentrations worked well as a deterrent from drinking the blood from a treated surface. The researchers note that their work is purely preliminary, they have no idea if the chemical would be safe for human use, or if it could be made in mass quantities.
[...] More information: Mayur K. Kajla et al. Bacteria: A novel source for potent mosquito feeding-deterrents, Science Advances (2019). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau6141
[*] From Wikipedia, DEET: "N,N-Diethyl-meta-toluamide, also called DEET (/diːt/) or diethyltoluamide, is the most common active ingredient in insect repellents."
Let's hope they can get it to market before summer.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DrkShadow on Friday January 18 2019, @01:43AM (1 child)
This is actually a rather ingenious way to discover new drugs. Rather than even just identifying something in nature, look at pheromones or anything air-borne that is produced by a _local_ predator of the thing you're trying to deal with.
The goal here is that either you'll repel the insects (Yay!), or they'll evolve a tolerance to the thing you're using to repel them or kill them (they _always_ do..) and they'll throw themselves at heir predators and die (Yay!) It's win-win if we overuse the substance. In fact, if it's something that comes from a predator, especially pheromones, we'll probably attract _more_ of the predator so that the insect is even more reluctant to visit or will sooner cease to bother the area.
This seems like a really novel thing to do. :-)
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday January 18 2019, @02:06PM
If too many are attracted then there is a whole new problem.
I seem to remember a grade school story . . . executive summary . . .
Someone had mice.
To get rid of the mice they got cats. Then there were too many cats.
To get rid of the cats they got dogs. Then there were too many dogs.
To get rid of the dogs they got lions. Then there were too many lions.
To get rid of the lions they got elephants. Then there were too many elephants in the room.
To get rid of the elephants they got mice.
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.