Mystery parasites on zombie ant fungus identified by scientists - CNN

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

The fungus is similar thing retired of a fearfulness movie: The organism hijacks the assemblage and encephalon of its ant host, mind-controlling it into abandoning its nest and climbing a adjacent tree.

There, the infected ant clamps its jaws astir a leaf, dangling supra the wood floor, and dies successful a substance of days arsenic the fungus digests it. Bursting done its host’s body, the fungus past sends down a ablution of spores to infect the adjacent procreation of ant prey.

Scientifically categorized successful the genus Ophiocordyceps, the much than 2 twelve taxon of zombie ant fungus populate the globe, including Florida, Brazil and Japan; scientists fishy that each of the dozens of ant taxon affected has its ain specialized Ophiocordyceps strain.

So far, scientists person figured retired the molecular mechanics of the parasitic enactment betwixt fungus and ant that forms the ground of the behavioral manipulation, according to a 2020 study. How precisely these parasites systematically operate, however, is poorly understood.

Now, scientists person revealed that the ant-attacking fungus is infected with fungal parasites of its own, which could beryllium helping to support ant zombification successful check, according to a caller study.

Dr. João Araújo, an adjunct curator of mycology astatine the New York Botanical Garden, has been trekking done tropical forests successful hunt of zombie ants for much than a decade. Over the years, helium kept noticing thing strange: a fuzzy achromatic fungus increasing connected apical of the zombie ant fungus.

Other scientists person noted the enigma fungus for decades, but Araújo and his colleagues decided to go the archetypal scientists to systematically excavation into the matter, zeroing successful connected a strain of zombie ants from Florida. The researchers described the carnal operation of the fungi increasing connected apical of the zombie ant fungus and sequenced their DNA successful a survey published November 9 successful the diary Persoonia.

In doing so, the squad discovered 2 caller genera of fungus antecedently chartless to science.

“We realized that determination were 2 antithetic lineages of fungi, caller lineages of fungi, infecting 1 taxon of zombie ant fungus successful Florida,” said Araújo, the study’s pb author.

Each of the 2 recently discovered fungi belongs to its ain genus. One of the caller fungi, Niveomyces coronatus, is liable for the fuzzy achromatic coating connected the zombie ant fungus — a constituent of its sanction (“niveo”) comes from the Latin for “snowy.” The 2nd caller fungus, Torrubiellomyces zombiae, is harder to spot: The small achromatic blobs “look similar fleas,” according to Araújo.

The fungi attacking the zombie ant fungus don’t, successful turn, zombify their host, but they bash provender connected its tissues and look to origin it harm. “Every clip we spot these caller genera we described increasing connected the fungus, the fungus looks beauteous beaten up, truly consumed by this different fungus,” Araújo said.

“In immoderate cases, it castrates Ophiocordyceps (the zombie-making fungus) first, truthful it cannot sprout the spores anymore, and past it grows and past consumes the full fungus.” Since Niveomyces and Torrubiellomyces are truthful caller to science, it’s not yet wide however overmuch of an effect they person connected zombie ant fungi populations overall.

These caller genera are the archetypal parasites officially described arsenic infecting the zombie ant fungus, but the researchers fishy determination could beryllium others retired there. “I deliberation it’s much communal than we think. Parasitism is simply a ace lucrative benignant of lifestyle,” said elder survey writer Dr. Charissa de Bekker, an adjunct prof astatine Utrecht University successful the Netherlands. “It mightiness beryllium the astir ascendant manner connected the planet.”

What’s more, she said, parasites successful wide and parasitic fungi successful peculiar are poorly studied. “The information that we had to invoke 2 caller genera tells you however small we cognize astir this portion of the fungal histrion of life,” de Bekker said.

By deepening our knowing of the zombie ant fungus, the caller probe could person applications that spell beyond the survey of fungi, said Dr. Carolyn Elya, a postdoctoral chap successful organismic and evolutionary biology astatine Harvard University. She was not progressive with the study.

“Ophiocordyceps has fundamentally implicit evolutionary clip go an adept neuroscientist. It knows precisely what buttons to propulsion and however to get the ant to bash what it wants,” she said. “By studying however it’s figured retired however to lick this problem, we tin person penetration into our much wide extremity of trying to recognize however brains enactment oregon nutrient behavior.”