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Life sciences

05 Aug 2020

Bird nests attract flying insects and parasites due to higher levels of carbon dioxide

By Nora Belblidia, science writer Researchers in Spain have examined bird nests in order to understand how flying insects and parasites detect gases as a way to locate their hosts. The study found that nests that had higher concentrations of carbon dioxide attracted more biting midges, a type of insect that carries a common blood parasite that infects local birds. The findings have implications regarding how diseases spread, which will be affected as carbon levels rise due to climate change. Flying insects and parasites are often vectors for disease, but a mosquito needs to first find someone before they can bite them. In a recent study published in Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, researchers examined bird nests in order to understand how insects and parasites detect gases such as carbon dioxide and methane as a way to locate their hosts. The researchers focused on blue tit bird nest boxes located in a deciduous forest in central Spain. They found that the nests contained more biting midges when concentrations of carbon dioxide were higher inside the nest compared to the forest air. “This is important because biting midges are the main vector of Haemoproteus, the most abundant blood parasite infecting birds […]

Health

27 Jul 2020

Studying COVID-19’s envelope protein

By Carolyn E. Unck | KAUST Discovery A likeness between genes of the SARS and COVID-19 viruses could inform research into potential treatments Understanding any similarities between SARS and COVID-19 inflammation could help in a clinical setting. A protein in the viruses causing COVID-19 and SARS is almost identical. Researchers propose testing if targeting COVID-19 with FDA-approved drugs, already tested in mice infected with SARS, could improve the outcomes for COVID-19 patients experiencing severe respiratory symptoms. The finding was a collaborative effort from teams at KAUST following a comparison of Betacoronavirus genomes. “We have long-standing expertise in analyzing genomic data at KAUST’s Computational Bioscience Research Center,” says molecular biologist, Takashi Gojobori. Gojobori, Carlos M. Duarte and a team of scientists compared the genomes of 24 Betacoronaviruses, including four SARS-CoV-2 viruses, which causes COVID-19. Two of the four were sequenced in the United States, while the other two were sequenced in China. “SARS-CoV-2 appears to have recently evolved from other related Betacoronaviruses, such as the ones causing SARS and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS),” explains Intikhab Alam, first author of the study. “We wanted to understand the genetic make up of SARS-CoV-2. Seeing what has changed might help find ways to detect the virus and understand its […]