Listen Up Men! Scientists Blame Female Gluttony on Males

The desire to keep a girlish figure has challenged females for time immemorial. Well, forget Atkins. Forget South Beach. Skip the Weight Watchers meeting. Scientists say that a certain species of tick has learned the secret to staying slimóby remaining virgins.

Female ticks who mate will drink 100 times their weight in host blood, whereas virgins arenít so gluttonous says a University of Alberta researcher who has discovered a protein that may offer clues to a $10 billion global tick problem, according to a press release on Newswise.

ìWhat happens is that a female will remain attached to a host, eating slowly and waiting to be fertilized,î said Dr. Reuben Kaufman from the U of Aís Faculty of Science. ìIf she does copulate, the seminal fluid contains an engorgement factor protein which acts as a signal to tell her to complete engorgement. Within 24 hours of copulation she will increase another 10 times her unfed weight. So co-dependency is also a no-no for svelte females.

After copulation the female increases her weight a further 10-fold. The virgin tick, however, rarely exceeds the critical weight necessary for laying some eggs.

Scientists found that they can duplicate a protein from male tick gonads that causes the virgin females to grow to full engorgement. Then they don't want to eat when they attach to a rabbit or a cow.

These proteins can be used to vaccinate cattle to protect them against ticks. Not only would such a vaccine control the tick problem, which costs US $10 billion annually on a global scale, but it also would inhibit the transfer of tick-borne diseases.

Tick diseases affect the growth of calves and milk production. Currently, ticks are controlled with pesticides that not only destroy the environment but also affect the meat.

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Posted by: Joan at April 6, 2004 3:15 PM

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