Were bed bugs the first urban pest insect? Genome-wide patterns of bed bug demography mirror global human expansion
The result's identifiers
Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60460709%3A41330%2F25%3A102155" target="_blank" >RIV/60460709:41330/25:102155 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0061" target="_blank" >https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0061</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2025.0061" target="_blank" >10.1098/rsbl.2025.0061</a>
Alternative languages
Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Were bed bugs the first urban pest insect? Genome-wide patterns of bed bug demography mirror global human expansion
Original language description
There are calls for research into the historical evolutionary relationships between humans and their commensals, as it would greatly inform models that predict the spread of pests and diseases under urban population expansion. The earliest civilizations emerged approximately 10 000 years ago and created conditions ideal for the establishment and spread of commensal urban pests. Commensal relations between humans and pests likely emerged with these early civilizations; however, for most species (e.g. German cockroach and black rat), these relationships have formed relatively recently-within the last 5000 years-raising the question of whether others could have emerged earlier. Following comparative whole genome analysis of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, belonging to two genetically distinct lineages, one associated with bats and the other with humans, coupled with demographic modelling, our findings suggests that while their association with humans dates back potentially hundreds of thousands of years, a dramatic change in the effective population size of the human-associated lineage occurred approximately 13 000 years ago; a pattern not found in the bat-associated lineage. The timing and magnitude of the demographic patterns provide compelling evidence that the human-associated lineage closely tracked the demographic history of modern humans and their movement into the first cities. As such, bed bugs may represent the first true urban pest insect species.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Classification
Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10618 - Ecology
Result continuities
Project
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Continuities
S - Specificky vyzkum na vysokych skolach
Others
Publication year
2025
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů
Data specific for result type
Name of the periodical
Biology Letters
ISSN
1744-9561
e-ISSN
1744-9561
Volume of the periodical
21
Issue of the periodical within the volume
5
Country of publishing house
CZ - CZECH REPUBLIC
Number of pages
6
Pages from-to
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UT code for WoS article
001496868600002
EID of the result in the Scopus database
2-s2.0-105007018996