Date: May 24, 2016
Source: Penn State
Zombie ants are only one of the
fungi-insect relationships studied by a team of Penn State biologists in a
newly compiled database of insect fungi interactions.
"I couldn't find a place
with broad information about all groups of fungi that infect insects in the
same study," said Joao Araujo, graduate student in biology. "When we
organized the information, we started to understand things we wouldn't see
before, because the literature was so spread."
From the 150 years of literature,
the researchers found that about 65 percent of insect orders can be infected by
fungi and Oomycetes, fungi-like organisms that also infect insects. The results
were published in the May issue of Advances in Genetics.
Sap-sucking insects, such as
cicadas, are the most frequently attacked by fungi. The researchers believe
this is because of the way this order of insect evolved. They have specialized
mouth parts for sucking sap making them susceptible to fungi that originally
infect plants.
"The fungi may have found a
good environment inside the insect and then they would have established in the
new host by host-jumping from plants to insects," said Araujo.
Host-jumping occurs when the
fungi, in this case, are able to infect new groups of hosts like insects,
animals or plants and so jump from one species or groups of hosts to others.
The researchers also discovered
that flies are the only order of insects that are infected at all stages of
development -- from when they are eggs until they are adults. They believe
flies are especially susceptible to infection because they are found all over
the world and get their food in a wide variety of ways. Their larvae often occupy
a wide range of breeding sites, ranging from ponds to tree trunks. This
diversity within the order is a potential explanation for the susceptibility to
fungal infections in all stages of flies.
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