iStockphoto
There is a zombie fungus out there that eats flies alive from the inside then takes control of their brains.
But wait, it gets even more gruesome.
The reason this zombie fungus takes control of the flies’ brains is so that it can lure healthy flies into having intercourse with the zombie fly so the fungus can spread.
The fungus also forces flies to cling to a surface high up in the air and then die, releasing spores that can then go on to infect other flies.
This fungus, called Entomophthora muscae, was the subject of a recent study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.
In the study, the researchers were successfully able to map the fungus’ genome, which is approximately 25 times larger than that of most other fungi.
Their goal in doing this is to learn how this zombie fungus is able to manipulate flies’ behavior to help prolong its own lifecycle.
“The genome is a catalogue of all the genes found in the fungus, which tells us something about the the organism’s capabilities,” said Associate Professor Henrik De Fine Licht of the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Plant and Environmental Sciences. “Such a catalogue can better equip us to look at which genes are active in a fly’s brain at the point when the fungus transforms it into this zombie-like state. And in this way, we hope to understand how it can do such a wild thing.”
Science journalist Tibi Puiu of ZME Science explains…
The fungus’s life cycle is as gruesome as it is fascinating. Once a fly is infected, the fungus slowly consumes it from within, leaving the insect alive until almost all of its nutrients are drained. Then, it seizes control of the fly’s brain, compelling it to climb upwards. At this point, nearly the entire fly is replaced by fungal mass. The fly becomes little more than a vessel, its natural behaviors replaced by the fungus’s commands.
De Fine Licht added, “Zombie flies are typically found when one comes across a dead fly sitting on a window surrounded by a white ring of spores. Research has shown that up to 60 to 80 percent of the flies that fly around in a given room or cattle barn can be infected with this fungus.”
So now we can add zombie flies to a list that already includes zombie ants, zombie snails, and zombie cicadas.
It’s really just a matter of time before zombie humans become a real thing that happens.