Scientists Have Sequenced the Genome of the Tick that Transmits Lyme Disease

February 29, 2016 by Entomology Today Leave a Comment

An international team of scientists led by Purdue University has sequenced the genome of the tick that transmits Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne illness in North America. Ixodes scapularis, known as the blacklegged tick or the deer tick, is the first tick species to have its genome sequenced.

The decade-long project, involving 93 authors from 46 institutions, decodes the biology of an arachnid with sophisticated spit, barbed mouthparts, and millions of years of successful parasitism. The genome of Ixodes scapularis also sheds light on how ticks acquire and transmit pathogens and offers tick-specific targets for control.[…] Read more of this post

My Take - I believe this is going to be the wave of the future.  Genetic pest control.  Products that are so target specific they won't even have a signal word.  For those who don't understand about pesticides - there are three signal words used on pesticide labels.  Danger Skull and Crossbones, Warning and Caution is used twice.  If a pesticide only kills one pest - there's no need for a warning on the label as it has no impact on any other life form.  We already have a Termiticide that fills that category, and that's where a great deal of research is heading.  We can look to pharmaceuticals to go in the same direction.  Genetically modification is the wave of the future - and I think it's a bright one....and it better be because viruses can get out of control easily and we're running out of effective antibiotics for many afflictions such as tuberculosis.   So stop listening to these insane activists who have no idea what they're talking about.