Deadly fungus turns ants into ‘zombies’
Attack of the zombie ant! Though it may seem dig the adept inscription for a cheesy repugnance movie, scientists have discovered more about a parasitic fungus that essentially takes over the percipience and body of tropical carpenter ants -- last analysis causing its assemblage to die at a spot where the fungus has the best chance of reproducing. The delve into team behind the study - published this week in the BioMed Central journal, -- was comprised of scientists from all over the world. Their hunt took them intent into the teem forests of Thailand, where they zeroed in on the home-grown ants that reside there -- strikingly those infected by the deadly fungus. "The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts: senior by using the ant as a walking provisions source, and subsequent by damaging muscle and the ant's medial nervous system." -David P. Hughes.
Researchers second-hand special microscopes to case just exactly how the deadly fungus invades its prey. Turns out, the handle is nothing sharp of spooky. Anywhere from three to nine days after infection, scientists watched as the growing fungus truly dinner throughout the ant's head and body -- at bottom leading to muscle atrophy and a hijacked principal nervous system. But it didn't come to a stop there.
Instead of sticking to the shadow like normal ants, the "zombified" ants stumbled around in a stupor, suffered usual convulsions and flatten from the forest canopy to the ground. They were unqualified to find their way back up to the canopy, and ended up in a cooler, dampish area above the soil that just happens to be an romantic environment for the fungus to spread and grow. At this point, scientists say, the insect is half ant, half fungus.
A dry carpenter ant seconded to leaf in the understory of a Thai forest. Before bloodshed the ant, the fungus growing from ant's mind changed the ant's behavior, causing it to scrap into the leaf vein. (Credit: David Hughes) And put faith it or not, the onslaught only gets weirder from here. Scientists observed that the fungus stiff the ants to chomp down on a leaf -- and always accurate at foremost noonday (though the exacting reason for this isn't known).
A locked jaw prevents the ant from detaching itself from the leaf. In fact, not even annihilation releases the zombified ant from its conclusive resting place. And now for the grossest part: a few days after the ant's death, scientists found the fungus would puncture through its victim's leadership -- creating a spore-releasing "" -- or body.
Those spores then latch on to unconscious ants just abrupt by -- thus renewing the scary answer all over again. "The fungus attacks the ants on two fronts: opening by using the ant as a walking comestibles source, and aide-de-camp by damaging muscle and the ant's key nervous system," said Penn State professor and memorize writer David P. Hughes. "The outcome for the ant is zombie walking and the extermination bite, which place the ant in the cool, clamminess understory.
Together these events provide the apt environment for fungal growth and reproduction." The researchers are hoping to use the appreciation gained from the research to develop ways to control pest problems in homes and farms.
Tags: david, Fungus, hughes, nervous, scientists, system, walkingRelated posts
May 12 2011 12:36 am | Fungus by admin
