Join CNN’s Marvel Idea science publication. Discover the universe with information on fascinating discoveries, scientific developments and extra.
CNN
—
World wide, a parasitic fungus transforms ants into “zombies.”
The fungus is like one thing out of a horror film: The organism hijacks the physique and mind of its ant host, mind-controlling it into abandoning its nest and climbing a close-by tree.
There, the contaminated ant clamps its jaws round a leaf, dangling above the forest flooring, and dies in a matter of days because the fungus digests it. Bursting by means of its host’s physique, the fungus then sends down a bathe of spores to contaminate the following technology of ant prey.
Scientifically categorized within the genus Ophiocordyceps, the greater than two dozen species of zombie ant fungus populate the globe, together with Florida, Brazil and Japan; scientists suspect that every of the handfuls of ant species affected has its personal specialised Ophiocordyceps pressure.
To date, scientists have found out the molecular mechanism of the parasitic interplay between fungus and ant that types the idea of the behavioral manipulation, in accordance with a 2020 research. How precisely these parasites systematically function, nevertheless, is poorly understood.
Now, scientists have revealed that the ant-attacking fungus is contaminated with fungal parasites of its personal, which could possibly be serving to to maintain ant zombification in examine, in accordance with a brand new research.
Dr. João Araújo, an assistant curator of mycology on the New York Botanical Backyard, has been trekking by means of tropical forests in quest of zombie ants for greater than a decade. Through the years, he stored noticing one thing unusual: a fuzzy white fungus rising on high of the zombie ant fungus.
Different scientists have famous the thriller fungus for many years, however Araújo and his colleagues determined to turn into the primary scientists to systematically dig into the matter, zeroing in on a pressure of zombie ants from Florida. The researchers described the bodily construction of the fungi rising on high of the zombie ant fungus and sequenced their DNA in a research printed November 9 within the journal Persoonia.
In doing so, the crew found two new genera of fungus beforehand unknown to science.
“We realized that there have been two totally different lineages of fungi, novel lineages of fungi, infecting one species of zombie ant fungus in Florida,” mentioned Araújo, the research’s lead creator.
Every of the 2 newly found fungi belongs to its personal genus. One of many new fungi, Niveomyces coronatus, is chargeable for the fuzzy white coating on the zombie ant fungus — a part of its identify (“niveo”) comes from the Latin for “snowy.” The second new fungus, Torrubiellomyces zombiae, is tougher to identify: The little black blobs “appear like fleas,” in accordance with Araújo.
The fungi attacking the zombie ant fungus don’t, in flip, zombify their host, however they do feed on its tissues and seem to trigger it hurt. “Each time we see these new genera we described rising on the fungus, the fungus appears fairly overwhelmed up, actually consumed by this different fungus,” Araújo mentioned.
“In some instances, it castrates Ophiocordyceps (the zombie-making fungus) first, so it can’t shoot the spores anymore, after which it grows after which consumes the entire fungus.” Since Niveomyces and Torrubiellomyces are so new to science, it’s not but clear how a lot of an impact they’ve on zombie ant fungi populations general.
These new genera are the primary parasites formally described as infecting the zombie ant fungus, however the researchers suspect there could possibly be others on the market. “I feel it’s extra widespread than we expect. Parasitism is an excellent profitable form of way of life,” mentioned senior research creator Dr. Charissa de Bekker, an assistant professor at Utrecht College within the Netherlands. “It may be probably the most dominant way of life on the planet.”
What’s extra, she mentioned, parasites basically and parasitic fungi specifically are poorly studied. “The truth that we needed to invoke two new genera tells you ways little we find out about this a part of the fungal tree of life,” de Bekker mentioned.
By deepening our understanding of the zombie ant fungus, the brand new analysis may have functions that transcend the research of fungi, mentioned Dr. Carolyn Elya, a postdoctoral fellow in organismic and evolutionary biology at Harvard College. She was not concerned with the research.
“Ophiocordyceps has principally over evolutionary time turn into an skilled neuroscientist. It is aware of precisely what buttons to push and learn how to get the ant to do what it needs,” she mentioned. “By finding out the way it’s found out learn how to clear up this drawback, we are able to have perception into our extra common purpose of making an attempt to know how brains work or produce conduct.”
