This episode: Bringing a fungus that makes zombie flies into the lab makes a good model for studying microbial mind-control!

Thanks to Dr. Carolyn Elya for her contribution!

Download Episode (12.1 MB, 13.25 minutes)

Show notes:
Microbe of the episode: Dipteran brevidensovirus 2

News item

Videos of fly fungus infection progression

Journal Papers:
Elya C, Lok TC, Spencer QE, McCausland H, Martinez CC, Eisen M. 2018. Robust manipulation of the behavior of Drosophila melanogaster by a fungal pathogen in the laboratory. eLife 7:e34414.

Other interesting stories:

• Bacteria from coal mining areas could help pollution-cleaning plants grow in those areas (paper)
• Bacteria in photosynthetic family found living deep inside rocks

 

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