Parasitic viruses, oh my!

[ksmith]

I love Ed Yong’s blog, Not Exactly Rocket Science. He’s joined Alton Brown as a charter member of my Geeky Crush Club.

This one’s about parasites that influence the behavior of their hosts, including driving them to their deaths.

At the top of its plant, the caterpillar liquefies. Its body almost seems to melt. As it does, it releases millions of viruses, dripping them onto plants below and releasing them into the air. These viruses are the agents that compelled the caterpillar to climb, and eventually killed it. They are baculoviruses, and they cause a condition known aptly as Wipfelkrankheit – the German for “tree top disease”.

The baculoviruses are just some of the many parasites that change the behaviour of their hosts, and many of them trigger unusual tendencies to climb. The fungus Cordyceps unilateralis drives ants to bite into leaves around 25 centimetres above the forest floor. This zone has the perfect conditions for the fungus to develop its spore capsule, which erupts fatally through the ant’s head. Meanwhile, the Leucochloridium fluke cancels out a snail’s fear of bright lights, driving them to open spaces where they’re more readily eaten by birds – the fluke’s final host. Perhaps someday, scientists will decipher the genes that allow these parasites to take over minds as well as bodies.

Mirrored from Kristine Smith.

Comments

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Since minds ARE bodies--in the sense that neural tissue is a physical not "mental" that part is easy. The specificity of the response is...trickier. Though maybe not...hmmm. Some caterpillars climb anyway...the webworm that afflicts pecan trees, for instance. Yes, it would help to know the photo-avoidant gene, to figure out just how the fluke reverses it to positive phototropism...or maybe just destroys it.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

The idea of "mind" control is the riveting bit, though. To find out that certain behaviors could be enforced/promoted by a certain type of bacteria in the gut or whatever that mosquito pumped into you when it bit you....

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

Very sfnal, for sure. I'm trying to think now what precisely Weber used in one novel to do a latent mind-control thing. Was the vector biological? I don't recall.

And with the load of critters (using the term loosely) we have making up our personal ecosystems, how much of us is us? Would be really interesting if the part we think is most human were actually...something else.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I swear I read a few months ago about a particular gut bug the presence of which influenced mood--people who had it felt happier than people who didn't--but damned if I can recall the details.

[e-moon60.livejournal.com]

I can certainly imagine a gut bug that produces that serotonin thing (SSRIs) having that effect. Or any other molecule with antidepressant activity. Or...um. An analgesic or anti-inflammatory. If things quit hurting, mood improves. (I would hate to think that the mood-altering effect of dark chocolate is really a bacterial or viral effect...they eat it and we feel better.)

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

If the nightmares aren't bad enough, go get Parasite Rex. *shudders*

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure that would be a good idea....

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

Pretty much, but it is a fine expansion on this idea...just know how profoundly disturbing the techniques that parasites have evolved.

Maybe I should just mail you one...along with a book that shows the bright side of (other) things...