SAN FRANCISCO — A cicada-infecting fungus produces drugs that make the insects literally mate their butts off.
Massospora fungi make either a drug found in hallucinogenic mushrooms or an amphetamine found in khat leaves, plant pathologist Matthew Kasson of West Virginia University in Morgantown reported June 22 at the ASM Microbe 2019 meeting.
The fungi may use psilocybin, which causes people to hallucinate, or the amphetamine cathinone to suppress cicadas appetites and keep the insects moving and mating even after they lose big chunks of their bodies. The finding marks the first time that researchers have discovered a fungus, other than mushrooms, producing psilocybin, and the first organism outside of plants to make an amphetamine.
Massospora fungi are transmitted sexually from cicada to cicada. Huge plugs of fungi form on the insects abdomens, and during mating, parts of the abdomens may break away, Kasson said.
Losing body parts would surely slow most organisms down, and yet for the fungal-infected cicadas, “two-thirds of their body might be missing, and they would be whistling as they walk down the street,” Kasson said. The infeRead More – Source
SAN FRANCISCO — A cicada-infecting fungus produces drugs that make the insects literally mate their butts off.
Massospora fungi make either a drug found in hallucinogenic mushrooms or an amphetamine found in khat leaves, plant pathologist Matthew Kasson of West Virginia University in Morgantown reported June 22 at the ASM Microbe 2019 meeting.
The fungi may use psilocybin, which causes people to hallucinate, or the amphetamine cathinone to suppress cicadas appetites and keep the insects moving and mating even after they lose big chunks of their bodies. The finding marks the first time that researchers have discovered a fungus, other than mushrooms, producing psilocybin, and the first organism outside of plants to make an amphetamine.
Massospora fungi are transmitted sexually from cicada to cicada. Huge plugs of fungi form on the insects abdomens, and during mating, parts of the abdomens may break away, Kasson said.
Losing body parts would surely slow most organisms down, and yet for the fungal-infected cicadas, “two-thirds of their body might be missing, and they would be whistling as they walk down the street,” Kasson said. The infeRead More – Source
