Study: Genes may play a role in why some people attract mosquitoes


Scientists already know that smell attracts mosquitoes, but researchers from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine are trying to determine if genes also play a part.
"Human odor is known to be controlled, at least in part, by genetic factors, and it is possible that variation in our attractiveness to mosquitoes is also modulated via the same mechanisms," James Logan and his colleagues wrote in the journal PLOS One. The researchers tested 37 pairs of female twins, half identical (who share all their DNA) and the other half fraternal (sharing no more DNA than a pair of sisters). Everyone washed their hands using the same soap, and then stuck their hands into a Y-shaped tube before hungry female mosquitoes were released into the far end of the tube.
The researchers found that the mosquitoes were more equally attracted to the identical twins, and usually only selected one fraternal twin, NBC News reports. The study was very small and there isn't any concrete evidence, they wrote, but it does suggest that genes do play a role in making a person attractive to mosquitoes.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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