pesticide resistance
gregladen | January 19, 2011Bedbugs (Insects of the Cimicidae family, commonly Cimex lectularius) are annoying, might carry diseases (though this is unclear, so probably nothing importat1, and are apparently becoming more common in the US. Interestingly, there has been very little study done of their genetics. A new study just out in PLoS ONE looks at the bedbug genome in an effort to better understand pesticide resistance in these pesky critters.
The current working hypothesis is that pesticide resistance in bedbugs results from point mutations in certain genes, though there may be another explanation. Bedbugs…