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Ophiocordyceps
Dead ants infected with Ophiocordyceps unilateralis
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Fungi
Division: Ascomycota
Class: Sordariomycetes
Order: Hypocreales
Family: Ophiocordycipitaceae
Genus: Ophiocordyceps
Petch (1931)
Type species
Ophiocordyceps blattae
(Petch) Petch (1931)
Synonyms [1]

Cordycepioideus Stifler (1941)

Ophiocordyceps is a genus of fungi within the family Ophiocordycipitaceae. [2] The widespread genus, first described scientifically by British mycologist Tom Petch in 1931, [3] contains about 140 species that grow on insects. [4] Anamorphic genera that correspond with Ophiocordyceps species are Hirsutella, Hymenostilbe, Isaria, Paraisaria, and Syngliocladium. [5]

One species complex, Ophiocordyceps unilateralis, is known for its parasitism on ants, in which it alters the behavior of the ants in such a way as to propagate itself more effectively, killing the ant and then growing its fruiting bodies from the ant's head and releasing its spores. [6] [7] [8] As the Ophiocordyceps-infected ant bites onto a surface, the fungus shrinks the muscle in the ant’s head, releasing chemicals that doesn’t invade the ant's brain (Bekker, 2019) . To accomplish this, infected ants are stripped of their instinctive fear of heights, and leaving the relative safety of their nests, climb up the nearest plant—a syndrome known as "summit disease" . [9] The ant clamps it jaws around the plant in a "death grip" and following, mycelia grow from the ant's feet and stitch them to the surface of the plant. [9] The spores released from the ant carcass fall to the ground and infect other ants that come in contact with the spores so that this cycle continues. [10] Areas with high densities of ants that have this fungus growing out of them are known as graveyards. [11]

A 48-million-year-old fossil of an ant in the death-grip of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis was discovered in Germany. [12]

Sources and uses

Ophiocordyceps sinensis is a species that infects the larvae of moths, mostly ants, and has been used in traditional Chinese medicine. [13] [14] [15] Although some research says it has anti-inflammatory effects, there is currently no scientific evidence that use of this species has any clinically detectable effect on human diseases. [14]

Species

Reference: [16]

In popular culture

Simply referred to as "cordyceps", an unspecified species is the cause of a worldwide pandemic and the zombie-like "infected" in the 2013 video game The Last of Us and its 2023 television adaptation.

In the 2014 novel The Girl with All the Gifts and its 2016 film adaptation, a mutation of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is responsible for an infection that causes the collapse of civilization.

In the 2022 comic-book series Poison Ivy written by G. Willow Wilson, the titular character makes use of a fictitious species belonging to this genus.

The Pokémon Paras and Parasect are based on insects parasitized by Ophiocordyceps.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ophiocordyceps Petch 1931". MycoBank. International Mycological Association. Retrieved 2011-07-19.
  2. ^ Lumbsch TH, Huhndorf SM (December 2007). "Outline of Ascomycota – 2007". Myconet. 13. Chicago, USA: The Field Museum, Department of Botany: 1–58.
  3. ^ Petch T. (1931). "Notes on entomogenous fungi". Transactions of the British Mycological Society. 16 (1): 55–75. doi: 10.1016/S0007-1536(31)80006-3.
  4. ^ Kirk PM, Cannon PF, Minter DW, Stalpers JA (2008). Dictionary of the Fungi (10th ed.). Wallingford, UK: CABI. p. 483. ISBN  978-0-85199-826-8.
  5. ^ Sung G-H, Hywel-Jones NL, Sung J-M, Luangsa-ard JJ, Shrestha B, Spatafora JW (2007). "Phylogenetic classification of Cordyceps and the clavicipitaceous fungi". Studies in Mycology. 57: 5–59. doi: 10.3114/sim.2007.57.01. PMC  2104736. PMID  18490993.
  6. ^ Bhanoo SN (24 August 2010). "In Fossilized Leaf, Clues to a Zombie Ant". The New York Times.
  7. ^ Zimmer C (24 October 2019). "After This Fungus Turns Ants Into Zombies, Their Bodies Explode". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Evans HC, Elliot SL, Hughes DP (March 2011). "Hidden diversity behind the zombie-ant fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis: four new species described from carpenter ants in Minas Gerais, Brazil". PLOS ONE. 6 (3): e17024. Bibcode: 2011PLoSO...617024E. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0017024. PMC  3047535. PMID  21399679.
  9. ^ a b Sheldrake, Merlin (2021). Entangled Life. New York: Random House. p. 96. ISBN  978-0-525-51032-1.
  10. ^ Pontoppidan, Maj-Britt; Himaman, Winanda; Hywel-Jones, Nigel L.; Boomsma, Jacobus J.; Hughes, David P. (2009-03-12). "Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead Ophiocordyceps-Infected Ants". PLOS ONE. 4 (3): e4835. Bibcode: 2009PLoSO...4.4835P. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004835. ISSN  1932-6203. PMC  2652714. PMID  19279680.
  11. ^ Pontoppidan, Maj-Britt; Himaman, Winanda; Hywel-Jones, Nigel L.; Boomsma, Jacobus J.; Hughes, David P. (2009-03-12). "Graveyards on the Move: The Spatio-Temporal Distribution of Dead Ophiocordyceps-Infected Ants". PLOS ONE. 4 (3): e4835. Bibcode: 2009PLoSO...4.4835P. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0004835. ISSN  1932-6203. PMC  2652714. PMID  19279680.
  12. ^ Hughes, David P.; Wappler, Torsten; Labandeira, Conrad C. (2011-02-23). "Ancient death-grip leaf scars reveal ant–fungal parasitism". Biology Letters. 7 (1): 67–70. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2010.0521. PMC  3030878. PMID  20719770.
  13. ^ Xu, Jin; Huang, Ying; Chen, Xiang-Xiang; Zheng, Shuai-Chao; Chen, Peng; Mo, Ming-He (October 2016). "The Mechanisms of Pharmacological Activities of Ophiocordyceps sinensis Fungi: Pharmacological Mechanisms of O . sinensis". Phytotherapy Research. 30 (10): 1572–1583. doi: 10.1002/ptr.5673. PMID  27373780. S2CID  2985175.
  14. ^ a b "Cordyceps". Drugs.com. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  15. ^ Yue, K; Ye, M; Zhou, Z; Sun, W; Lin, X (April 2013). "The genus Cordyceps: a chemical and pharmacological review". The Journal of Pharmacy and Pharmacology. 65 (4): 474–93. doi: 10.1111/j.2042-7158.2012.01601.x. PMID  23488776.
  16. ^ Araújo JP, Evans HC, Kepler R, Hughes DP (June 2018). "Ophiocordyceps. I. Myrmecophilous hirsutelloid species". Studies in Mycology. 90: 119–160. doi: 10.1016/j.simyco.2017.12.002. PMC  6002356. PMID  29910522.
  17. ^ Kate Golembiewski: Mystery parasites on zombie ant fungus identified by scientists. CNN, Fri November 18, 2022. Source: doi:10.1534/g3.120.401290 PMID 32354705 PMC  7341126 .

External links

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