Zombie Ant Fungus 'Knows' its Host
Aug 26, 2014 03:17 PM EDT
"A zombie ant fungus "knows" its host, and only releases brain-controlling chemicals when it finds itself attached to its preferred ant species, according to a new study.
Parasitic fungi from the genus Ophiocordyceps - also known as the "zombie ant fungus" - control their ant hosts by inducing a biting behavior. Although these fungi can infect many different types of insects, they prefer a certain kind of ant in particular, and wait to attack until they find such a desirable host.
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Using metabolomics, the researchers could determine precisely the chemical crosstalk between the fungus and the ant brain it grew alongside.
"We could see in the data that the fungus behaved differently in the presence of the ant brain it had co-evolved with," de Bekker said."
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