Inventions and technology of science

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04/29/2023

𝗠𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘇𝗼𝗺𝗯𝗶𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗴𝘂𝘀 𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝘀𝘁𝘀

𝑨𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅, 𝒂 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒖𝒔 𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒔𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒎𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 “𝒛𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒊𝒆𝒔.”

The fungus is like something out of a horror movie: The organism hijacks the body and brain of its ant host, mind-controlling it into abandoning its nest and climbing a nearby tree.

There, the infected ant clamps its jaws around a leaf, dangling above the forest floor, and dies in a matter of days as the fungus digests it. Bursting through its host’s body, the fungus then sends down a shower of spores to infect the next generation of ant prey.

Scientifically categorized in the genus Ophiocordyceps, the more than two dozen species of zombie ant fungus populate the globe, including Florida, Brazil and Japan; scientists suspect that each of the dozens of ant species affected has its own specialized Ophiocordyceps strain.

So far, scientists have figured out the molecular mechanism of the parasitic interaction between fungus and ant that forms the basis of the behavioral manipulation, according to a 2020 study. How exactly these parasites systematically operate, however, is poorly understood.

Now, scientists have revealed that the ant-attacking fungus is infected with fungal parasites of its own, which could be helping to keep ant zombification in check, according to a new study.

01/27/2023