La Mode Verte
Environmental Awareness Through Media ProductionsArchive for Current Biology
European ‘Super’ Mice Have Evolved to Resist Poisons
www.bbc.co.uk 10th august 2011
A new report published in the Current Biology has found that a new hybrid of mice holds a higher than normal resistance to pest control poisons. The report studied the rapid evolution of German and Spanish mice when they mated with Algerian members of the species. The result was that the gene combination made the offspring increasingly resistant to the drug warfarin, which is an anti-coagulant used in pesticides. The research was led by Professor Michael Kohn from Rice University in Houston, Texas, who said: ”Our study is so special because it involves hybridisation between two species of mouse that are 1.5-3 million years removed from each other. Most of the offspring… do not reproduce, they are sterile – but there is a small window, which remains open for genes to be moved from one species to the other, and that’s through a few fertile females – so there is a chance to leak genes from one species to another.” Although the hybrid mice may not look any different from normal household European mice, they have in fact the ability ‘to survive the strongest chemicals in the pest control armoury.’
