I want to eat your brains...

I want to eat your brains…

In the last of my Halloween blogs, I am choosing to blog about zombies. So what does zombies have to do with molecular biology? Well according to a recent article published in August, “Gene expression during zombie ant biting behavior reflects the complexity underlying fungal parasitic behavioral manipulation,” it has everything to do with it! But I will get to that in a minute.

In general, zombies are thought to occur through the reanimation of human corpses. The creature is deemed fictional. The word zombie comes from Haitian folklore, where it refers to the deceased being revitalized through necromancy of a bokor, or witch. The zombie is controlled by the bokor, forced to be his or her slave.

Zombies can be traced back in literature to discussion of resurrection of the undead in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein literature by H.P. Lovecraft. However, currently zombies are all the rage and can be seen in art, comics, videogames, tv shows, and movies, with one of the most popular being the Walking Dead. In 2011, the CDC published a graphic novel titled “Preparedness 101: Zombie Apocalypse,” and in the same year the Weather Channel published an article “How to Weather the Zombie Apocalypse.” All of the cultural media surrounding zombies is fine and dandy, but can zombies really exist?

 

So far, no actual zombies, the kind that were human have existed. But from what I understand the disease does exist in plants and insects, specifically in the ant. The study focuses on carpenter ants infected by the fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis and their biting behavior curtailed from infection. After infection, and upon observation of biting, samples were taken and a mixed RNA-Sequence analysis was performed on them. The O. unilateralis genome was also sequenced. From the experimentation, the results showed that the majority of fungal genes that up-regulated during manipulated biting behavior are exclusive to the explicit fungus’ genome. The study also showed that the fungus controlled immune and neural stress reactions during biting, and reduced the ant’s chemosensory communication ability, which instigated apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Furthermore, the genes that remained up-regulated encoded for proteins that produced effects on behavior as well as proteins that were responsible for the biosynthesis of alkaloids.

So zombies do exist! I would be interested to know if other fungus in the same wheelhouse would produce similar effects, and if any of the manipulating fungus would have the same effect on invertebrates or mammals. The article was super interesting, and I would enjoy seeing where science goes with this topic over the next ten years.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4545319/ for more on the study regarding zombie ants

For more information on zombie plants, please read this peer reviewed article, http://eds.a.ebscohost.com/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=d1ded09f-a690-49c9-a22c-1e1981ea20cc%40sessionmgr4002&vid=7&hid=4203.