They also begin to invade ants’ muscles, either through the muscle cells themselves or filling the spaces between muscle cells. The result is obvious: red muscle fibers are surrounded by a network of interconnected yellow fungal cells that is characteristic of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis. Hughes’s team found that another parasitic fungus that infects the deadly ants but does not manipulate the mind can also spread between muscle cells but does not form ducts between individual cells nor introduce itself into the myocyte network .
Whenever Hughes and others discuss zombie ants, they always treat it as a single entity, and fungi are constantly eroding and controlling the host. But you can think of the fungus as a colonizer, and the host ants it targets are its colony. Individual cells begin to exist in the host body alone, but eventually unite to fuse into a single super organism. By interconnecting, these brainless cells can conquer the brain of a host organism.
But surprisingly, they can do this without having to touch the brain. Hughes’s team found that fungal cells eroded the entire body of an ant, including its head, but the ants’ brains did not suffer any damage. Kelly Weinersmith of Rice University said there are other parasites that can manipulate the host without damaging the brain. For example, a flatworm can form a carpet-like barrier on the California killifish’s brain, keeping the brain intact while making the fish behave irregularly, drawing the attention of birds, the next host of flat-shaped insects. Wiener Smith noted: “But Ophiocordyceps unilateralis manipulates ants so precisely that fungi do not invade the host’s brain, which is astonishing.”
In retrospect, this makes sense. Charissa de Bekker, of Central Florida University, said: “If these parasites only invaded and damaged neuronal tissue, I would not think that the manipulative behavior we observed would be as noticeable as it is now. Complex, “she said, noting that fungi secrete large amounts of chemicals that affect the host’s brain distally.
Overall, the fungus invades the host body, using the host body to communicate with each other, affecting the distal host brain. Hughes believes that this fungus can also more directly control the muscles of ants, the real manipulation of ants into a “puppet control game.” Once the infection occurs, he says the neurons in the ants – the main way the brain controls the muscles – start to die. Hughes suspects that the fungus started taking over the ants. It effectively separates the limbs of the ants from the brain, allowing them to intervene, releasing chemicals and forcing the limbs to contract. If this is correct, the ants will slowly come to life in their own bodies like prisoners. Its brain is like a driver trapped in the driver’s seat, but the fungus controls the wheels.
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