Virus brainwashes caterpillars to melt themselves
September 12th, 2011 - 5:19 pm ICT by IANSLondon, Sep 12 (IANS) It could be a plot from a Hollywood blockbuster — a virus that brainwashes caterpillars into practically melting themselves.
Scientists at Penn State University have isolated the single gene called egt that turns the virus into such a monster.
The caterpillars return to the ground to hide after feeding on leaves, but the baculovirus reprogrammes them to stay in the trees, melts them, then drips down among the remains to infect more of the creatures, the journal Science reports.
Penn State researcher Kelli Hoover said: “When gypsy moth caterpillars are healthy and happy, they go up into the trees at night to feed on leaves, and then climb back down in the morning to hide from predators during the day.”
“When they are infected, as they get sicker they stay up in the trees and die up there,” added Hoover, according to the Daily Mail.
“There are other genes in the virus that then make the caterpillar melt. So it becomes a pool of millions of virus particles that end up dropping onto the foliage below where it can infect other moths that eat those leaves,” Hoover added.
His team discovered that the gene responsible for controlling the caterpillar is called egt. They were able to stop the zombie effect by removing the gene from the virus.
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Tags: baculovirus, caterpillar, daily mail, egt, foliage, genes, gypsy moth, gypsy moth caterpillars, hollywood blockbuster, journal science, kelli hoover, leaves, monster, moth, moths, penn state researcher, penn state university, predators, virus particles, zombie