A BIZARRE zombie fungus that eats flies from the inside before taking control of their brains may have infected most of the flies in your home.
Once it kills its host, the fungus – called Entomophthora muscae – lures healthy flies over to have necrophilic intercourse with it so the fungus can spread.
Researchers working alongside the University of Copenhagen are trying to figure out how exactly the fungus can manipulate fly behavior.
Though they have also outlined several ways to tell if the fungus is spreading among flies in your house.
“Research has shown that up to 60 to 80 per cent of the flies that fly around in a given room or cattle barn can be infected with this fungus,” Associate Professor Henrik De Fine Licht, of the University of Copenhagen, said in a statement.
“Zombie flies are typically found when one comes across a dead fly sitting on a window surrounded by a white ring of spores.”
Unlike Cordyceps, another type of zombie fungus that can infect ants and spiders, Entomophthora muscae can only infect houseflies and fruit flies.
Focusing on the fruit fly-infecting subspecies, researchers have pieced together the funguses genome sequence – its genetic make-up.
They believe that, in the future, the fungus may prove to be an effective insect repellent and the basis for new psychotropic drugs in humans.
“The genome is a catalogue of all the genes found in the fungus, which tells us something about the organism’s capabilities,” added De Fine Licht.
“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.”
The video above shows an infected fly with fungus growing from the inside out, expanding almost like popcorn over a 24 hour period.
It feasts on the nutrients inside the fly, and when that runs dry, it takes control of the brain to make the fly stick to a plant or window, as high up as possible.
At this point, almost the entire body consists of fungal mass, and eventually all of the fly’s normal processes stop.
Henrik De Fine Licht
“At this point, almost the entire body consists of fungal mass, and eventually all of the fly’s normal processes stop,” De Fine Licht explained.
“Over the course of a few hours, the fungus begins to shoot fungal spores out of the hind of the fly’s body.
“In the process, it also secretes chemical fragrances that attract healthy flies.
“Once close, they try to mate with the dead flies, which allows the spores to grow into the healthy fly and repeat the process.”
The behaviour manipulation begins at dusk, which researchers believe is because the humidity is higher at night.
It is a better time to release infectious spores that are prone to drying out when the air is more humid, joint author of the study, Carolyn Elya of Harvard University, said.
She added: “We now know that the fungus has genes that code for light-sensitive proteins.
“We suspect that, just like in other organisms, the fungus could be using light cues to tell the time.
“Thus, we believe that this is an important clue in the mechanism underlying the timing of behavior manipulation.”
The genome also shows the fungus has copies of enzymes that break down the hard chitin shells of insects, which, while “unsurprising”, has not been verified until now, according to Elya.
