Saturday 21 April 2012

Lactating Tsetse Flies Models for Lactating Mammals?



ScienceDaily (Apr. 18, 2012) — An unprecedented study of intra-uterine lactation in the tsetse fly, just published in Biology of Reproduction's "Papers-in-Press," reveals that an enzyme found in the fly's milk functions similarly in mammals, making the tsetse a potential model for lipid metabolism during mammalian lactation.

Better yet, reduced levels of this enzyme led to poor health in offspring, leading the authors to suggest that targeting it could help decrease the tsetse population in Africa and so reduce the incidence of sleeping sickness. Tsetse flies are bloodsucking flies that inhabit much of subsaharan Africa. They are similar in size to a horsefly and breed along rivers and streams. A pathogenic species of parasite in the genus Trypanosoma can be taken in by the fly while taking a blood meal from an infected human or animal. Flies carrying the parasite can then transmit it to other humans or animals. The disease caused by the trypanosomes is known as sleeping sickness in humans and nagana in wild and domestic animals, including pigs, cattle, and horses.


Continued  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120418162302.htm

No comments:

Post a Comment

You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!

Related Posts with Thumbnails

ShareThis