A secretive life within our skin, only emerging at night to mate on our foreheads, noses and nipples, can be found in our grease-covered skin. The days of independent parasites may be numbered.
The first ever study of these mites seems to have caught them in the process of transitioning to internal symbionts, dependent on us for their existence. Their extinction is possible because of this process.
98% of people carry D folliculorum and they are most abundant in the nose, forehead, ear canal, and nipples. They lead a harmless life and have been present since early life, having been transferred from our mothers during birth or breastfeeding.
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The research was led by Dr Henk Braig from Bangor University and the National University of San Juan in Argentina.
Braig and his colleagues used a blackhead removal to collect the genomes of D folliculorum mite from a person's nose and forehead.
According to their findings, the mites have the lowest amount of proteins of any arthropod or crustacean so far.
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The reduction in the number of cells in adult mites is a likely first evolutionary step in their journey towards adopting an entirely symbiotic lifestyle.
The more genes they lose, the more dependent they are on us. With no chance to gain additional genes from less closely related mites, their isolated existence and resulting inbreeding may have set the mites on a path to extinction.
It could be bad news if this happens. If we lose them, we could face problems with our skin, according to the co-author.
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