It is well known that mushroom The last of us Founded on the floor CordyCepsIN exists in real life. No, a real mushroom Do not infect peopleThe field is not, there is no risk to cause the zombie apocalypse. But it is true that he is very curious as a zombie insect. Some of his mechanisms were known for a long time, but recently another equally exciting was discovered.
What we still knew is that in general several mushrooms of the genre CordyCeps They have the ability to infect an insect, for example, an ant, and Manipulate your brain Act as it benefits the fungus itself. For example, you can make an infected ant on the top of a tree and die on the edge of the branch, where the mushroom ends completely with its life, forcing me to do Continuously And Liber is a lot of disputes. This allows the fungus to achieve much greater distances than if the disputes were released directly on the ground.
New find about the mushroom The last of us This was done in Military cordycepsA species that usually infects caterpillars. In particular, he was studied in Silk wormsThe field in this case is that it manipulates not so much by its behavior and food. And this is that the mushroom turns the food of the caterpillars into food for itself. This allows you grow up and very quicklySo that when the caterpillar is wrapped in a cocoon, he can break and release his disputes.
How does CordyCeps manipulate the food of its victims?
Silk worms usually feed on mulberry leaves, very rich in sugar, known as TrekhalosThe mushroom field The last of usIN Military cordyceps In this case, it has a gene with the necessary instructions for the synthesis TRAGALAZAn enzyme whose function is to evaluate the decomposition of tragalosis. How much more this enzyme is, the more, the more Tregalos breaks and Faster the caterpillar is hungry again.
Therefore, silk worms infected with fungus The last of us They eat like real zombies. This is useful for CordyCeps; Because, in addition, Tregalaza destroys the Trehalosa molecules, 12 carbon, in 6 carbon glucose moleculeswhich are used by the mushroom as food. While the silk worm is hungry, the mushroom continues to grow.
New weapon for mushroom The last of us
In fact, it seems that Corydceps Militaris complements this recently discovered ability with which he already had. Does not force the caterpillars to rise to the top, like the ants, but Let them usually build a cocoon And, as soon as they hang themselves, they appear, releasing disputes everywhere.
Thanks to this, other caterpillars can be infected and begin a new cycle, in which, again, they will behave like a zombie The last of usWill we see something similar in the new season of the series? It would not be very rare. In the end, regardless of how much fiction contains history, mushroom The last of us This also has a lot of real science.
Source: Hiper Textual
