Did you know that many “pets” live on your face? But calm down, it’s no use running to the bathroom to clean them because the skin mites They inhabit deeper layers that we cannot reach by just touching the skin of the face. However, a study showed that the existence of these beings is threatened.
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Mites that live on the skin what is it?
More than 90% of people have mites in facial area, they are the species Demodex Folliculorum and they accompany us from birth, since they are transmitted from our mother through breastfeeding.
Should we be thankful that mites live on our face?
According to biologist Alejandra Perotti, a researcher at the University of Reading in the UK, we should be grateful to be able to provide them with a home mitesas they clean our pores and keep them in balance.
These organisms emerge from our pores at night in search of a new skin follicle in which to mate with a mate, thus perpetuating the species’ existence. However, a recent study showed that the existence of these mites is threatened due to changes in human DNA.
Demodex folliculorum and the threat to the species
The study, published in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, underscores how close our relationship is with these microorganisms. However, the DNA of these animals erodes, that is, they go out.
The gene that protects the body from ultraviolet light, for example, has already been lost. But that even makes sense since they are only more active at night, when there is little light.
The work also showed that as gene diversity decreases, mites may be at risk of extinction as they become less adapted and more dependent on us, consequently losing more genes and becoming completely dependent on their hosts to continue to exist.
If this dependency becomes absolute, these beings will no longer be able to leave the pores to “reproduce” and this is precisely what threatens the future of the species we lose those who make our natural authors “skin cleansing”.