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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:05PM
"It should be commercially available in five to ten years".
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:11PM (6 children)
Why haven't the mosquitoes evolved resistance to this chemical?
And then the soil bacterium which produces it evolved to produce something better?
Answers notwithstanding, if humans mass produced the chemical, how long would it work since we wouldn't be keeping up with the cycle just described.
Or, what am I missing?
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(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:47PM
they evolved aversion instead of resistance probably because the parasiticss nematodes kills them before they reproduce
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:06PM (1 child)
Everything.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Thursday January 17 2019, @11:14PM
Wow . . . I need to get on Amazon right away and order some more then.
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(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.
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(Score: 2) by VLM on Friday January 18 2019, @12:31PM
Relatively few delicious hot blooded mammal blood bags to suck wallowing in the mud. Only a handful of famous species wallow in mud.
This would SEEM to imply that its a mere side effect the mosquitoes picked up on meaningless bacterial byproducts and global distribution and poor application of the product will rapidly breed distaste of the molecule out of mosquitoes. Mosquito generations are pretty short; I'd guess one or two seasons at most before it wouldn't work as well, and at most a decade before the molecule breeds into an attractant not a repellent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday January 17 2019, @09:58PM
https://www.google.com/search?q=fabclavine+IIb&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=7uc94tYX1RLRAM [google.com] look awfully hard to make from scratch bur the genetic pathway to make it is known : lookup https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10295-018-02124-8 [springer.com] in http://sci-hub.tw [sci-hub.tw] , but that compound act as an antibiotic so I don't know how hard it would be to get e. coli. to produce it
(Score: 3, Interesting) by captain normal on Thursday January 17 2019, @10:45PM (2 children)
Want to repel mosquitoes? Just crush fresh catnip and rub it on exposed skin areas. Something I actually learned from a Tamil doctor in Sri Lanka 40 years ago. Works very well. It has also been since confirmed by science. You can also find oil from catnip at many places if there isn't any fresh catnip handy.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/08/010828075659.htm [sciencedaily.com]
https://news.rutgers.edu/research-news/super-catnip-repels-mosquitos-and-drives-cats-wild/20150920#.XEEEO_krLDc [rutgers.edu]
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/08/28/us/study-hints-at-catnip-as-mosquito-repellent.html [nytimes.com]
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @04:41AM (1 child)
But catnip gets you high. Don't do drugs, kids.
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Friday January 18 2019, @04:56AM
Only if you are a cat.
When life isn't going right, go left.
(Score: 2) by Barenflimski on Friday January 18 2019, @01:38AM
If you rub dirt on your skin, which is full of nematodes, the mosquitoes wont bite.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 18 2019, @12:38PM
you saw a mosquito attack a soil bacterium? Yeah, it sure works wonders!
Also, I have to dragon repelling rock for sale...