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Africa's Bane Tsetse are blood-feeding, fast-flying flies that transmit a range of Trypanosoma spp. protozoan pathogens, which cause sleeping sickness in humans and their nagana in their livestock. The International Glossina Genome Initiative (p. 380 ) sequenced the genome of Glossina morsitans and identified the genes for many attributes of the tsetse's remarkable biology, including viviparity and the expression of analogs of mammalian milk proteins. Tsetse are host to several specific symbionts that appear to synthesize essential nutrients for the fly and also to hitherto undiscovered parasitoid-derived viruses. Deeper exploration of this genome will reveal what makes these fly species so host- and trypanosome specific.

More information Original publication

DOI

10.1126/science.1249656

Type

Journal article

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Publication Date

2014-04-25T00:00:00+00:00

Volume

344

Pages

380 - 386

Total pages

6