• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

Forget the fly swatter: Biologists map genes to fight stable flies

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
March 10, 2021
in Science News
Reading Time: 3 mins read
0
IMAGE
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Stable flies cause $2B in agriculture losses each year — and they’re so annoying

IMAGE

Credit: Pia Untalan Olafson

Researchers hope to use an agricultural pest’s genetic code against it to prevent billions of dollars in annual losses in the United States.

Stable flies, or Stomoxys calcitrans, are spotted, tan-colored flies found around the world. They are easily mistaken for the common housefly but for one notable distinction: They bite.

“If you get one in your house and it bites you, it’s a stable fly,” said Joshua Benoit, an assistant professor of biology at the University of Cincinnati.

Stable flies don’t bite so much as chomp. They are the scourge of beachgoers in Florida and recreational boaters in upstate New York. According to Thomas Jefferson, they tormented signatories of the Declaration of Independence.

“You shoo it away and shoo it away but it’s persistent and lands on you. And then it bites. And it’s not a pleasant bite. It’s a pretty vicious, painful bite,” Benoit said.

UC joined an international team that unlocked the genome of stable flies. Benoit and his students contributed to a fundamental research project called i5k that has the ambitious goal to sequence the genes of 5,000 species of arthropods, the group that includes spiders, insects and crabs.

“It’s a pretty cool project. Molecular research on stable flies is far behind many other organisms. Our goal was to jump it up so we have a good model system to understand the biology of stable flies,” Benoit said.

Previously, UC worked on similar projects for bedbugs and the agricultural menaces thrips and screwworms.

With stable flies, Benoit said they were looking for possible weaknesses to exploit in its genetic code. Researchers examined stable fly biology using genomic sequencing and RNA analysis over the fly’s development. They also identified 1,600 genes related to stable fly reproduction, which could lead to new biological controls without the use of pesticides.

“Conducting research for its own sake is reward enough, but it is always heartening when the findings generate interesting novel avenues for exploration,” study co-author and UC postdoctoral researcher Christopher Holmes said.

The study was published in the journal BMC Biology. Pia Untalan Olafson of the U.S. Department of Agriculture was the study’s lead author.

“Stable flies are arguably one of the most important pests of livestock in the United States,” Olafson said.

The project has huge economic implications from tourism to agriculture. Nobody can nap in a beach chair with stable flies for company. The flies cause an estimated $2.2 billion in livestock production each year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Cows beset by stable flies produce less milk and put on less weight.

Unlike mosquitoes, both male and female stable flies bite. 

“It’s a nonstop onslaught all the time. The flies need a blood meal to survive and reproduce. So they will keep trying to bite and trying to bite. They are very persistent,” Benoit said.

“When you get a thousand of these biting a cow, it can have a huge impact on agricultural productivity.”

Olafson said the research has implications far beyond the United States.

“Worldwide, these flies have become a societal issue of public and political importance,” she said. “Growing international agroindustries, like pineapple, coffee and sugarcane, produce large amounts of byproduct that are ideal sites for stable fly larvae to develop. These sites can produce upwards of hundreds of thousands of flies per acre. Livestock producers and communities that neighbor these industries feel the impact.”

UC’s study also helps scientists better understand why some flies evolved to feed on blood while similar species didn’t. The flies lay their eggs in wet or rotting vegetation like the wet hay or straw found around barns and stables that give them their associated name.

By understanding the genes responsible for stable fly reproduction, researchers hope to design novel biological controls similar to methods that have worked to eradicate other pests such as screwworms. The USDA raises screwworms by the millions, releasing sterilized males over Central America to keep them from pushing north to plague North American cattle ranches.

“Any targeted control like that is probably better than widescale pesticide application, which will kill all insects. So you don’t have to release chemicals into the environment,” Benoit said.

###

Media Contact
Michael Miller
[email protected]

Original Source

https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2021/03/uc-biologists-sequences-genome-of-harmful-bothersome-farm-pest.html

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12915-021-00975-9

Tags: AgricultureBiologyEntomologyFertilizers/Pest ManagementGenetics
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Evidence Use in Australian Clinical Networks Explained

September 30, 2025
Natural Antimicrobial Compounds in Pollen May Shield Bee Colonies from Infections

Natural Antimicrobial Compounds in Pollen May Shield Bee Colonies from Infections

September 30, 2025

Analyzing Asparaginase Pancreatitis in Pediatric Leukemia Rechallenge

September 30, 2025

Experts Caution Federal Budget Reductions Could Stall Progress in Tobacco Control Efforts

September 30, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    87 shares
    Share 35 Tweet 22
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    73 shares
    Share 29 Tweet 18
  • How Donor Human Milk Storage Impacts Gut Health in Preemies

    59 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Scientists Discover and Synthesize Active Compound in Magic Mushrooms Again

    56 shares
    Share 22 Tweet 14

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Evidence Use in Australian Clinical Networks Explained

Natural Antimicrobial Compounds in Pollen May Shield Bee Colonies from Infections

Analyzing Asparaginase Pancreatitis in Pediatric Leukemia Rechallenge

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 60 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.