Скачать или смотреть Zombies taking over? - ant edition | SJK Academy | Parasite Interactions | Animal Behavior Lesson

Join us to learn about how the fungus Ophiocordyceps uses chemicals to control ant behavior. This fungus, which is similar to the one popularized on "The Last of Us", infects ants and causes them to do the "zombie walk". Learn about the genes that fungal chemicals regulate to change ant behavior.

Read the article here: https://www.sciencejournalforkids.org...

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Summary: Researchers wanted to see how Ophiocordyceps infects ants, causing them to turn into "zombies", through the release of chemicals like aflatrem, which impacts their movement and alters their genes.

Abstract: Have you ever seen an ant acting strange? Sometimes, ants are infected with a fungus called Ophiocordyceps that can change their behavior. The fungus causes them to walk like a zombie, climb up nearby plants, and bite to hang on tightly. It does this so that the wind will help spread its infectious spores. But how does this happen?

Our previous research discovered that Ophiocordyceps fungi can make a chemical similar to one called aflatrem. Since these types of chemicals are known to cause trouble with walking in other animals, we wondered if it might be causing the zombie walk in ants, too. To test our hypothesis, we injected ants with aflatrem and found that it makes them move more slowly. It also causes them to stagger like they are dizzy! We also discovered that aflatrem can change how much some genes are turned up or down in the ants. By making it harder for ants to walk, we think the fungus uses aflatrem-like chemicals to keep the ants from leaving once they are in the perfect spot for the biting behavior. This helps the fungus to spread its spores better.

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
1:46 - Methods
3:09 - Results
4:04 - Discussion
4:40 - Student Question and Answer
5:22 - Conclusion

About us: Science Journal for Kids is a non-profit organization that “translates” academic papers into easy-to-understand science articles for school students. Why? Because children have the right to know about the latest scientific discoveries.

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