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A huge number of parasites can change the behavior of the organisms they infect. In some cases, parasites can even make their hosts display completely new behaviors. We understand very little about the mechanisms and pathways behind this interaction. To learn more, we investigated how a specific fungus changes the behavior of ants, by turning them into "zombie ants". The infected zombies climb high and latch onto twigs just before they die, which helps the fungus to spread its spores a further distance.
Our results suggest that the fungus takes over the brain, secreting LSD-like compounds, expressing proteins that change serotonin and dopamine levels in the brain, and altering the ability to communicate with nearby ants. Our genome and transcriptome dataset, obtained using both field and lab techniques, allowed us for the first time to dive a bit deeper into the mechanisms used to regulate behavior. In the long run this work might even lead to discoveries related to human brain health.
Is this avenue of inquiry really advisable?
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @09:27AM
When they do turn this into the T-virus, by the time you detect it, it will be too late.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 12 2015, @11:38AM
Kind of like those economic extremists who want to deregulate everything, convinced that customer opinion and retrospective lawsuits will be enough to force businesses to behave themselves - completely ignoring the fact that by the time your family have all died of food poisoning, suing the food manufacturer is pretty weak compensation (assuming anyone survives to sue).