A recent study claims that some people truly are “mosquito magnets,” and this is most likely due to their odour.
The researchers discovered that those who are most appealing to mosquitoes produce a lot of particular skin-bound molecules linked to smell. Additionally, the bloodsuckers stick with their favourites over time, which is bad news for mosquito magnets.
According to the study’s lead author Maria Elena De Obaldia, the researchers devised an experiment to test the theory of mosquito magnetism. In the journal Cell, their findings were released on Tuesday.
In a round-robin competition, scientists discovered a startling disparity: the largest mosquito magnet was around 100 times more alluring to mosquitoes than the loser.
Voshal claimed that the experiment we conducted was challenging. But if that were to work, you can envision that by altering your diet or your microbiome, you could introduce bacteria to your skin that interact with the sebum in some way. Therefore, any subject 33 can be converted to subject 19.
The identical task was repeatedly administered to volunteers by the researchers, and the end results revealed a significant difference. The individual ranked last turned out to be 100 times more appealing than the person who attracted the most insects. Although Florida International University neurogeneticist Matt DeGenero was not a part of the experiment, he claims that the difference was still present after many years of testing the same subjects.
It is difficult to envision a time in the future where we are not the most popular item on the menu given the clarity of the odour tracker provided by Mosquito. But one approach is to influence the microbiota of our skin. By combining skin bacteria with sebum from the skin of a person with a high affinity, like subject 33, and skin-to-skin bacteria from a person with a low affinity, like subject 19, it may be feasible to avoid mosquito bites.
There was one thing inside everyone among those who were drawing insects more. On his skin, there was a significant concentration of certain acids. The amount of these gummy substances, which are a natural component of the skin’s moisture and differ from person to person, fluctuates. According to Voshal, the beneficial bacteria on the skin devour these acids and are partially responsible for the odour coming from the skin.
The mosquitoes still gravitated toward those that were deemed attractive despite the researchers’ attempts to change their DNA to make them smell bad. According to Voshal, mosquitoes are incredibly adaptable and have a variety of various ways to get to us and bite us.
Voshal said she hopes the discovery will inspire scientists to explore several mosquito species, such as the malaria-transmitting Anopheles genus. The journal Cell has published this study.
