Dating Before Mating?
Microbes can already do some
incredible things, but dating before mating? Seems we don't know as much about
microbes as we thought. Researchers have identified blood-transmitting
microbes Trypanosomes, as organisms
that carry a horrible disease known as the African sleeping sickness. They know
this disease is transmitted through the tsetse fly, but they just recently
discovered that these little microbes are also making a lot of babies after
they court themselves. It seems that these microbes have a clear need to quote,
“twirl and “gyrate” together before their mating begins. If that weren’t bad
enough, scientists have concluded that these microbes have a good reason for
it; to swap fluids and thus become even stronger and more deadly. That’s right,
deadly, strong genes from microbial dating, even more resistant to medication.
Doesn’t sound like a fun time for the victim.
Well, unfortunately for
us, this is just one microbial disease out of the many others out there. Though
scientists have not confirmed any other “dating before mating” microbial
action, there are signs of other microbes getting stronger through their genes.
Allergies and autoimmune disease have been on the rise as well. Though no signs
of them dating, yet, it seems revolutionary biology has caused these diseases
to become almost intolerable for us. So what does that mean for us?
http://www.yourtango.com/2014204183/weird-news-some-microbes-date-they-mate
http://gettingstronger.org/2013/03/what-causes-allergies-and-autoimmune-disease/
The article that you read sounds super interesting and it opened my eyes to a how smart microbes can be. I was unaware that these tiny organisms were smart enough to think about increasing their "powers." It amazes me that nature can be small and evil. I did understand that microbes were wired to reproduce and try to do everything in their power to survive. These Trypanosomes seem to be really tough and hard to beat. They have really developed the “survival of the fittest” method. There are so many microbes out in the world to discover and each microbes have their own secrets. It is very interesting and kind of scary to think that microbes are stronger than our own knowledge and medicines. I am curious to know, if the Trypanosomes will “teach” other microbes how to “date” before they reproduce and how.
ReplyDeleteIts surprising to hear that microbes can "date" before reproducing offspring. You mentioned in your blog post that the Trypanosomes that they would twirl and pass fluids to each other, making them deadlier. But, I was still confused by the concept "dating" between the microbes. How do the microbes come to meet? Are they always in close proximity of each other? If so, how long before they begin to reproduce? In addition, after reading that the Trypanosomes are the only known microbes to "date before mating," I liked your theory in the end where you state that these microbes may become intelligent enough to pass on their "date" smarts to other microbes. I too believe that this can be possible. I think that the reason why microbes are becoming so smart is because they have adapted to antibiotics and medications that have come about. As advances in the medical field occur, it seems to be the same for microbes.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting. In "dating" each other, are they of the same species? and if so, I wonder how they become stronger. Such genius little microbes. They have their own little intentions and little wars and "love" with other microbes. It's cool to see it that way. We as humans have the same intentions in life as a small microbe does, to survive. And it kinda cool, but drastic how far both species would go to do so.
ReplyDeleteI never thought that any other species let alone microbes date each other before mating, and these Trypanosomes using their mating to become stronger and deadlier is amazing. And the idea that they could teach other microbes to do this is amazing as well, but hopefully it doesn’t happen. We don’t need certain microbes to be stronger, to the point where medication is no longer helpful in curing these problems. The idea of them getting smarter is amazing as well; I didn’t think they really had brains or a thought process in their cell bodies. Or the thought of us underestimating them is another thing that is more believable to me. we typically underestimate things a lot of species, animals, or ourselves as humans a lot in the scientific world. Hopefully we will understand these microbes and learn how to take care of them so they are not deadly to us anymore. I hope we can do that will all of the microbes in the world.
ReplyDeleteGreat title and images, and you've done a nice job of writing! You're really looking at evolution in action. Nice questions that got raised in the comments too.
ReplyDelete