Scientists found DNA of hundreds of insect species in a tea bag
What could be simpler, clearer and more enjoyable than an ordinary tea party? But no, German scientists decided to take away this joy from us and began to study tea with the help of modern high-precision equipment. And, of course, they made an amazing discovery, which, however, made no one happy except them. Biologists have found DNA of hundreds of insect species in each tea bag.
A team of scientists from The University of Trier has been thinking for a long time that they would study such an unusual thing. They chose the most common packaged tea from the nearest supermarket. Using modern equipment that allows them to track the slightest traces of living organisms, they learned a lot of interesting things about this banal product.
In each tea bag, they found the DNA of at least 400 species of insects. In the whole pack there were traces of thousands of species. Biologist Henrik Krehenwinkel, who led the study, said that living creatures leave their DNA even if they just nibble on a tea leaf or run over it. Modern technologies make it possible to determine the type of insect that came into contact with the plant, even after processing the leaves.
Dr. Krehenwinkel admitted that he had long suspected that tea was not so simple. Therefore, he prefers to drink coffee, because his grains undergo roasting, which destroys other people's DNA. When asked by journalists why such an unusual experiment was needed, the scientist replied that it was not carried out out of boredom. Biologists wanted to find out whether it was possible to determine from old herbariums the features of the ecosystem in which plants grew.
After experimenting with tea, German biologists move on to study collections of herbariums from museums. Now they will be able to tell which insects were found in ancient times in the areas where plants were collected. Henrik Krehenwinkel calmed down the hypochondriac connoisseurs of tea and said that no harm can be done to human insect DNA. Even if they are the most dangerous insects on the planet. But you must agree, drinking tea will not be as pleasant now as it used to be.