TY - JOUR
T1 - The metabolic alteration and apparent preservation of the zombie ant brain
AU - Loreto, Raquel G.
AU - Hughes, David P.
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to Kim Fleming for allowing us to collect ants and fungi on her land and providing valuable assistance through the 10 years we have been studying zombie ants together. We also thank Dr. Nina Jenkins for providing Beauveria bassiana spores and Dr. Djoshkun Shengjuler for assisting us in the making of the figures for this manuscript. We thank Dr. Eric Allman for the support on the analysis of the metabolic features. RGL was supported by CAPES -Brazil (grant BEX-6203-10-8) and Penn State. DPH is supported by Penn State. This work was funded by NSF grant 454 IOS-1558062 and NIH grant R01 GM116927-02 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/10
Y1 - 2019/10
N2 - Some parasites can manipulate the behavior of their animal hosts to increase transmission. An interesting area of research is understanding how host neurobiology is manipulated by microbes to the point of displaying such aberrant behaviors. Here, we characterize the metabolic profile of the brain of an insect at the moment of the behavioral manipulation by a parasitic microbe. Our model system are ants infected with the parasitic fungus Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae (=unilateralis), which manipulates ants to climb and bite into plant substrates, before killing the host (i.e. zombie ants). At the moment of the behavioral manipulation by the fungus, the host's brain is not invaded by the fungus which is known to extensively invade muscle tissue. We found that, despite not being invaded by the parasite, the brains of manipulated ants are notably different, showing alterations in neuromodulatory substances, signs of neurodegeneration, changes in energy use, and antioxidant compound that signal stress reactions by the host. Ergothionine, a fungal derived compound with known neuronal cytoprotection functions was found to be highly elevated in zombie ant brains suggesting the fungus, which does not invade the central nervous system, is preserving the brain.
AB - Some parasites can manipulate the behavior of their animal hosts to increase transmission. An interesting area of research is understanding how host neurobiology is manipulated by microbes to the point of displaying such aberrant behaviors. Here, we characterize the metabolic profile of the brain of an insect at the moment of the behavioral manipulation by a parasitic microbe. Our model system are ants infected with the parasitic fungus Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae (=unilateralis), which manipulates ants to climb and bite into plant substrates, before killing the host (i.e. zombie ants). At the moment of the behavioral manipulation by the fungus, the host's brain is not invaded by the fungus which is known to extensively invade muscle tissue. We found that, despite not being invaded by the parasite, the brains of manipulated ants are notably different, showing alterations in neuromodulatory substances, signs of neurodegeneration, changes in energy use, and antioxidant compound that signal stress reactions by the host. Ergothionine, a fungal derived compound with known neuronal cytoprotection functions was found to be highly elevated in zombie ant brains suggesting the fungus, which does not invade the central nervous system, is preserving the brain.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.103918
DO - 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2019.103918
M3 - Article
C2 - 31400384
AN - SCOPUS:85070961420
VL - 118
JO - Journal of Insect Physiology
JF - Journal of Insect Physiology
SN - 0022-1910
M1 - 103918
ER -