Zombie Research Society
What would you call a plant that appears alive, is in fact dead, but exhibits enough living behavior to attract an insect which will carry the parasite that is controlling the plant to another unsuspecting plant? Biology researchers at the John Innes Centre in the UK are calling it a ‘zombie plant.’
The scientists have not only observed and documented the behavior, but have discovered the method by which the parasitic bacteria (called phytoplasma) actually turn their plant host into the living dead. When these nefarious bacteria take over, they transform a plant’s flowers into leafy shoots, turning petals green and preventing the flowers from producing offspring. Apparently, that’s because the parasite has a protein called SAP54, which interacts with the plant so that flowers self-destruct from the inside.
Remarkably, plants with SAP54-induced leaf-like flowers are more attractive for colonization by ‘leaf-hopping’ insects, which transfer the bacteria to other plants, thus beginning its life-cycle all over again. After infection, the plant exists solely to attract insects that will pick up the bacteria it is infected with, and carry it to to another plant.
Put simply, AFTER infection, the plant’s only PURPOSE is to infect other plants of its own species.
The researcher’s entire peer-reviewed paper was published on April 9, 2014, and is available online at: PLOS Biology
It reminds me of the zombie snail. What happens is theres a parasite that is carried from birds and is transferred through a snail the bird eats. The cycle is continuous. The bird poops, the healthy snail feeds on the droppings and turns the snail into a zombie. After being infected, the snail develops a bright, highly noticeable growth, which I believe attaches to the snails antennas on its head, and the snail, now Zombified climes high up into tall grass where other birds see it and feed on them. When the bird poops again, the cycle starts all over again. Pretty wild.
Yeah. Nature is freaky that way! Zombie Ants work pretty much the same way.