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Demodex folliculorum are eight-legged mites measuring 0.01-inch-long and inhabit almost all human beings. The mites live on the nipples and sometimes lips and eyelashes hence bearing the name face mites.
On sequencing a mite's genome for the first time, researchers from the University of Reading found that inbreeding is making the parasites to shed unnecessary genes. The mites are also losing their ability to secrete a compound dubbed melatonin. The compound which exists in humans, makes invertebrates active at night and fuels their mating sessions. Mites are thus likely to mate on humans while they sleep.
The idea of eight-legged mites that have sex on your face and nipples when you sleep may sound like a concept from the latest horror blockbuster - Reported The Daily Mail.
Due to their unique gene arrangement, the mites have strange mating habits. The males have a protruding penis which faces upwards. This means that they must be positioned beneath the females as both cling onto human hair during mating.
According to one of the researchers Dr Alejandra Perotti, “We found these mites have a different arrangement of body part genes to other similar species due to them adapting to a sheltered life inside pores. These changes to their DNA have resulted in some unusual body features and behaviours."
The researchers further reveal that the parasites are becoming 'internal symbionts' that are living within humans. According to the daily mail," The creatures are very much real and are becoming much simplified organisms that they may soon 'become one with humans' "
A co-lead author from Bangor University Dr. Henk Braig says, " mites have been blamed for a lot of things." Since these parasites lack an anus, faeces accumulate their bodies and are released when they die. These parasites are thus blamed for eye and skin conditions like blepharitis and rosacea.
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