Cordyceps: Your Best Friend or Your Worst Nightmare

    When I was in high school, I really enjoyed this one zombie game called The Last of Us. It was a story driven, single player game that followed the story of two survivors of a zombie apocalypse. The difference between this story and countless other zombie narratives was the the zombie infection was caused by a parasitic fungus known as Cordyceps. Despite the intriguing fictional narrative, I was surprised to find out that Cordyceps are a real thing.

    Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a parasitic fungus found deep in the Amazon rain forest. It can infect a large number of different insects, however the most interesting relationship is when it infects a carpenter ant. Once the spores attach to the ant, it slowly takes over its muscles and brain. By starting out as single cells in the ant’s blood stream, as they multiply within the ant, the cells begin to link up and form it’s own colony within the ant’s muscle tissue. Interestingly, Cordyceps do not invade the ant’s brain, instead it cuts off the ant’s muscles from the brain and excretes it’s own chemicals to puppeteer the ant into an area that is ideal for the Cordyceps. 25 centimeters is the perfect altitude. With the exact humidity and temperature for the fungus to grow a long stalk and eventually a capsule full of spores, ready to be released upon the rest of the ant colony below. zombie ant.jpg

 

 

    After doing some more research, I came across another article that explained the interesting relationship that this Cordycep fungus has with cicadas. Despite the fungus being known for parasitically taking over insects, it has formed a symbiotic relationship with one insect. Due to the fact that cicada’s only feed on sap that is high in sugars but low in all other nutrients, two bacteria, Sulcia and Hodgkinia, live inside cicada cells to help provide these vital nutrients. But recently, the Hodgkinia bacteria has been absent in a lot of cicadas and the Cordycep fungus has been found. The Cordycep does the exact same job as the Hodgkinia by providing vital amino acids and nutrients. While this fungus plays such a critical role in the cicada, it zombifies ants and other insects.

    Although they’re made from a different type of Cordycep, various supplements are out in the market that help with conditions such as lymphoma and diabetes. Actually, this is a whole new topic, so I will stop my rabbit hole of Cordyceps here. On a side note: I will be avoiding these supplements entirely due to my fear of fungi taking over my body and causing me to climb tall buildings in order to disperse spores upon the public.

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/how-to-tame-a-zombie-fungus/562544/

https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/11/how-the-zombie-fungus-takes-over-ants-bodies-to-control-their-minds/545864/

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/cordyceps-benefits#section3