European Medicinal Leech Sequence
European Medicinal Leech Sequence


European medicinal leech sequence. Researchers have mapped for the first time the genes of the European medicinal leech (Hirudo medicinalis), one of the most prominent medicinal species. European Medicinal Leech (Hirudo Medicinal). Today, two species of leeches, Hirudo Medicinalis and Hirudo Verbana, are used in science for sound-based medical methods, primarily for replication of skin graft or graft surgery.

Your saliva contains the strongest anticoagulants (blood thinners) for medications and can alleviate blood accumulation after surgery and promote healing of the blood vessels. However, the full complement of compounds in medicinal leech saliva that achieved this result was not known until now.

Dr. Sebastian Kvist, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Toronto and curator of invertebrate zoology at the Royal Ontario Museum, and colleagues focused on the diversity of anticoagulants contained in the leech genome.

Incredibly, Leech uses 15 different proteins, which negatively affect blood clotting mechanisms in vertebrates, and 17 other proteins that are probably part of the same anticoagulant process, said Dr.. Kvist said. This is more than we anticipated, and the insights generated from this research will allow medical professionals to better understand how and when to use leeches in their behavior.

"Sequenced only as Jake's third genome, Herrudo Medicinalis provides important comparative data to understand the development of bleeding in leeches," co-author, Dr. Curator of Cantalida and Protozoa at the American Museum of Natural History. Mark Sidall said.

"It is surprising that the most widely used, known and well known leech species in the world have not been investigated at this stage," he said. "This research provides important information about the development of bleeding in leeches and will play an important role in future research." The findings were published in the Journal of Scientific Reports.


doctors' favorite medicinal leech
 doctors' favorite medicinal leech

What can we learn from doctors' favorite medicinal leech? Hirudo verbana, a European medicinal leech, grows after feeding on blood sausages. The back of the leech is a large head with a small head that has multiple teeth row jaws to feed on. Bloodshed with original exhibits from the original behind-the-scenes exhibit at the Royal Ontario Museum's Invertebrate Zoology Laboratory:

Legends for Legends opens in Toronto on November 16. October 29, 2019. Leaching can ingest five times its weight in blood and go a year without being fed. Some people use multiple teeth-lined jaws, which act as small saws to cut through the skin. There are about 45 species in fresh and brackish water from central Canada to Mexico. Biologists only sequence the genome of a major medicinal leech species, and there is much to teach us how leech saliva inhibits blood clotting.

Most people probably think of medieval doctors as the starting point for jokes, not a subject for 21st century genome sequencing or modern medical equipment. They are actually both. Leaching was part of the protests of doctors from ancient Greece to colonial America, as bloodshed was the obvious solution to parasitic fever and inflammation.

Today's medicinal lychees are carefully selected and selected FDA-approved (approved in 2004) medical devices by companies like Recomprex of France, which have sold leeches for almost 150 years. The old-fashioned idea, developed in ancient Greece and deferred for the next 2,000 years, was that some patients had much more blood than the other three physical humors: black bile, yellow bile, and phlegm.

Spilling excess blood onto the litchi, especially if the blood was "bad" or infected, would restore the patient's internal balance. (Spoiler alert: This is definitely not how the human body works. Please don't try this at home, or anywhere else.) Modern doctors use litchi to promote blood circulation and wound healing.

Your saliva (leeches, not medical) contains chemical compounds called anticoagulants, which inhibit blood clotting and therefore help maintain blood flow. Obviously, this is easier for the blood-feeding worm, but if used correctly, lychee can also help people with diabetes and some heart problems that reduce blood circulation in their organs.

They affect, or patients who have recently undergone surgery, such as finger surgery or skin graft surgery. Leaching saliva contains some of the strongest anticoagulants we know of, but medical researchers did not reveal all of the compounds until a recent study sequenced the Hirudo medicinalis genome, which is currently on the market.

The most widely used medicinal leech. "It is surprising that the most widely used, known, and known species of leech in the world has not been investigated at this level," said Mark Sidall, curator of Annelida and Protozoa in the Natural History of American Siddle, a high-level study. author of.

"This is more than we expected," said Sebastian Kvist, invertebrate curator at the Royal Ontario Museum and lead author of the study. The insights generated from this research will allow medical professionals to better understand how and when to use leeches in their practice. Many species of leeches (including one recently discovered in the United States) feed on human blood, and if you wander through a swamp or marsh, you will be able to meet them personally.

But only two species, H. Medicinal and H. Stocks are actually captive and approved for medical use. Both species hail from Europe, which when it comes to sensitive doctors, even their speeches were found in North America in the 1700s, even though wild leeches were very close to home.


Profound effect on the use of medicinal leeches
Profound effect on the use of medicinal leeches

The good bloody look of scientists can have a profound effect on the use of medicinal leeches. An international team of researchers, led by Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) scientist Sebastian Kvist, announced the completion and results of their work to sequence the genome of Hierudo medicinalis, a European leech and one of the most prominent medicinal species. . it is.

The team focused its efforts on revealing the diversity and abundance of anticoagulants (anticoagulants) in the leech genome. The results will guide the therapeutic use of future lychees, in which the leech secretes proteins during feeding. The study provides new insights into the powerful anticoagulants contained in saliva from the salivary liver, often used in medical practice.

The results of new research published this week in Scientific Reports reveal information that may have a profound impact on the use of medicinal lychee in hospital medicine. An international team of researchers, led by Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) scientist Sebastian Kvist, announced the completion and results of their work to sequence the genome of Hierudo medicinalis, a European leech and one of the most prominent medicinal species.

The team focused on the diversity of anticoagulants (or anticoagulants) contained in the genome, producing results that could have a profound effect on how blood-borne organisms are used in a hospital. Medicinal lychees have long been used to treat various human conditions.

However, its use in premodern medicine was based on early and unsubstantiated principles of medicine: primarily, the function of the human body depended on a balance of four "humors": blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile. Drawing blood from a patient, often by applying live leeches, was thought to restore that balance.

Today, two species of leeches, Hirudo verbana and Hirudo medicinalis, are used in science for sound-based medical methods, primarily for number replication (such as fingers) or skin graft surgery. Your saliva contains the strongest anticoagulants for the medication and can relieve blood accumulation after surgery and promote healing of the blood vessels. However, the full complement of compounds in medicinal leech saliva that achieved this result was not known until now.

"Incredibly, Leech uses 15 different proteins, which negatively affect the mechanisms of blood clot formation in vertebrates, and 17 other proteins that are probably part of the same anticoagulant process." Says Kvist, the curator of invertebrates in Rome, a professor hired at the University of Toronto and lead curator of the award-winning original ROM exhibition Bloodsuckers: Legends from Legends.

He said: This is more than we anticipated, and the insights generated by this research will allow medical professionals to better understand how and when to use leeches in their behavior.

As only an occasional sequence of the third leech genome occurs, Herrudo Medicinalis provides important comparative data to understand the development of bleeding in leeches, lead author of the article in American Natural History of New York City, Mark Siddle, curator of Annelida Y toma note of the protozoa.

It is surprising that the most widely used, known and well known leech species in the world have not been investigated at this stage, says Sidal. This research provides important information about the development of bleeding in leeches and will play an important role in future research.