Hughes and his team scanned ultra-thin slices of infected ants under a powerful microscope to build a 3D model, painstakingly marking which parts were ant and which were fungus. Prior research showed that the zombification might be due to the release of a special chemical that causes the muscles in the infected ants' mandibles to contract forcefully for that death-grip bite.īack in 2017, Prof. Parasitic puppetmasterĭavid Hughes, an entomologist at Penn State University, has been studying the fascinating relationship between carpenter ants and their parasitic partner, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, for years, in hopes of learning more about how the fungus controls its doomed host. But scientists are keen to study Cordyceps to learn more about the origins and intricate mechanisms behind these kinds of pathogen-based diseases. It has also worked its way into popular culture, such as the zombie-apocalypse video game, The Last of Us (2013), in which a parasitic fungus mutates so that it also infects humans. The zombification aspect has made the fungus a favorite of nature documentaries. There are more than 400 different species of Cordyceps fungi, each targeting a particular species of insect, whether it be ants, dragonflies, cockroaches, aphids, or beetles. It's not a great way to go: the entire process can take four to 14 days. Then the bulbous growths on the ends of the mycelia burst, releasing even more spores into the air, to infect even more unsuspecting ants. The fungus then slowly devours the ant, sprouting through its head in one final indignity. Cordyceps essentially turns its host into a zombie slave, compelling the ant to climb to the top of the nearest plant and clamp its tiny jaws in a death grip around a leaf or twig. The spores attach to the ant and germinate, spreading through the host's body via long tendrils called mycelia.
Pity the poor unsuspecting carpenter ant who unwittingly becomes infected with spores scattered by a parasitic fungus in the Cordyceps genus.
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