Queens residents can be very different from their counterparts in other boroughs. But did you know that bedbugs — every New Yorker’s worst nightmare — vary borough to borough just as much?
For the first time, researchers have explored the entire genome of bedbugs, and announced their findings this past Tuesday. The research teams traced fragments of bedbugs’ DNA throughout the New York City subway system coming up with interesting conclusions.
Bedbugs appear to have a signature genetic make up district to district. Bedbugs in Queens then are slightly different than bedbugs in Brooklyn. In fact, even bedbugs on the Upper West Side are different than their Upper East Side counterparts.
A 108-member research team identified dozens of genes responsible for the pest’s resistance to pesticides, which help it thrive despite the most frantic efforts to eradicate them. These genes will now become the scientists’ “target for destruction,” reported The Wall Street Journal.
So there you have it. Now the only question remains: Are the Queens bedbugs more resilient that the Brooklyn one? And for once, nobody wants to hear a yes.
