Researchers Find DNA Traces of 400 Insects in Tea Bags - Consumers Could Help Science

Created: 06/23/2022, 05:12

By: Kathrin Reikowski

What DNA Traces Do Insects Leave on Plants?

Tea bags make this visible.

(symbol image) © Imago

Like in a thriller: Researchers at the University of Trier examine tea bags for DNA traces.

Their finds provide evidence of species extinction - and could make tea drinkers important informants.

Trier - "We examined commercially available teas and herbs and found DNA from up to 400 different insect species in a single tea bag," says Henrik Krehenwinkel, junior professor of biogeography from Trier.

In his study, he and his team carried out important investigations into insect mortality and biodiversity.

Which bee pollinated the flower?

Which beetle has crawled over the flower dagger, which louse has eaten through a leaf?

The researchers can visualize all of this in the laboratory.

Insect DNA in tea bags: what science can read from it

The groundbreaking novelty of the scientific process: Because UV rays or rain normally make the DNA traces disappear, research on this is otherwise difficult.

Because the leaves in the tea are in a dried state, one can now see what traces the insects leave inside a plant.

"Now we can also prove which insects live inside the plant," says Henrik Krehenwinkel, describing the new horizon of knowledge.

Insect DNA in teabags: could consumers become important informants for science?

What the researchers are now particularly interested in: are certain types of insects disappearing along with certain types of plants?

The connection between plants and animals could be demonstrated particularly well with this method.

A glimpse into the future of consumers and tea lovers: "We are currently working on simplifying the protocol of our process so that school classes can work with it," says Krehenwinkel.

"In the long term, this could result in a citizen science project in which citizens conduct research in the field of biodiversity."

And what sounds like a crime thriller could actually be useful for criminalistics: the technique of detecting DNA traces in dried plants could be of interest to customs, for example - when protected plant species are imported or when drugs are found.

According to Stiftung Warentest, green teas are often contaminated with pollutants.

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