CharissadeB

Thanks very much for your questions! To answer the first one: No, this group of fungi infects insects and spiders and no other animals. However, they infect a whole range of them. You can find many different insects that get infected and among ants we see it across a range of species. These all have their own specialized species of (Ophio)cordyceps fungus though. Other animals do encounter other parasites that can manipulate their brain though! Toxoplasma is a nice example for instance. It takes away the innate fear of cats in rodents and makes them actually attracted to them. There are even researchers that have stated that Toxoplasma might influence human behavior. So, I don't think the insect brain is more prone to zombification. I think, because insect behavior and therefore change of that behavior is easier to study, we can pinpoint a lot better that it is being controlled by a parasite. To answer your second question: we don't know the mechanisms yet. However, I am about to venture in that direction with my work. My microryza crowd funding campaign that is running at the moment is all about unravelling the parasitic genes that might be in play. Have a look at the project's page if your interested in seeing what I am planning https://www.microryza.com/projects/how-does-a-parasite-create-zombie-like-behavior

Zombie is the word the media at one point connected with this phenomenon and because people know our study system as such we use it though it is not correct (they are not living dead, they are very much alive when they get manipulated and after that they die). With ant behavior we can't really talk about self awareness, their behavior displays the task they have in the colony which should be seen as one big super organism. The fungus breaks into this pre-programmed behavior and alters it.

The fungi of the genus Ophiocordyceps that our lab study are very species specific and this behavioral manipulation is a result of a tight co-evolution between host and parasite. The manipulated biting is very stereotypical and fine-tuned to the different ecosystems we find this phenomenon in. Within an ecosystem we for instance don't even find all ant species infected, only a specific few. So, I don't think it will just suddenly transmit to humans. The more we learn about parasites and their life cycles in general the more we find that certain species can influence the behavior of their hosts. This is very interesting because however hard the field of neuro medicine for instance tries to treat behavioral diseases in patients, this field is still less successful than certain parasites. I think in the future we could therefore thus learn from the mechanisms these parasites employ to try and develop treatments for these patients.

Yes I did! Loved it!

Go ahead and hijack away! Awesome answer! Did you see there are some more Toxo related questions below? Feel free to answer them! I have a hard time keeping up the pace answering questions as it is, so any expert input is very welcome