Body-snatching fungi that give rise to sex-crazed cicadas contain compounds of hallucinogenic drugs

It turns out insects can suffer from a bad trip, too.

Scientists investigating parasitic fungi that target cicadas have discovered traces of psychoactive chemicals in the infected insects, including an amphetamine and psilocybin, the potent compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The infection leads to a horrifying outcome for the host; after the fungus takes root inside the body, cicadas begin to show ‘hypersexual’ behaviors, causing males to attempt to mate with females and other males alike.

Eventually, the spores burst through the infected insect’s abdomen, ripping its genitals off in the process – and, the cicadas continue trying to mate afterwards.

Scientists investigating a parasitic fungus that targets cicadas have discovered traces of psychoactive chemicals in the infected insects, including an amphetamine and psilocybin, the potent compound found in hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The new study led by researchers at West Virginia University investigated fungal pathogens in the genus Massospora, which can be found in both periodical and annual cicadas.

Previous studies have made note of the bizarre sexual behaviours that result from the body-snatching fungus, revealing how it causes males to flick their wings like a female would to lure in other males.

By causing the cicadas to mate with both sexes, the fungus can spread its spores more widely.

‘This phenomenon is the ultimate evolutionary arms race, where the host loses because they are rendered sterile or evolutionarily irrelevant by the fungus in order to spread the spores,’ explained University of Connecticut ecology and evolutionary biology researcher John Cooley following a study released earlier this year.

In the new study, scientists have pinpointed some of the chemicals that could be contributing to the infected cicadas’ activity.

The researchers analyzed the fungal ‘plugs’ that sprout from the abdomens of infected cicadas, and found psychoactive plant and mushroom alkaloids.

Among the periodical cicadas infected with the fungus Massospora cicadina, they found the plant amphetamine, cathinone.

The infection leads to a horrifying outcome for the host; after the fungus takes root inside the body, cicadas begin to show ‘hypersexual’ behaviours, causing males to attempt to mate with females and other males alike.

The new study led by researchers at West Virginia University investigated fungal pathogens in the genus Massospora, which can be found in both periodical and annual cicadas.

And in the M. platypediae- and M. levispora-infected annual cicadas, they found the mushroom tryptamine, psilocybin.

According to the new study, these compounds could boost the cicadas’ endurance and suppress their feeding, allowing them to continue spreading spores even as their body deteriorates.

As the researchers note, the infected cicadas appear to continue on mating and flying as they would normally, despite their condition.

But ultimately, the insects die after being hijacked by the fungus.

Abstract

Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious conidia, but select species keep their hosts alive while sporulating to enhance spore dispersal. Recent expression and metabolomics studies involving host-killing entomopathogens have helped unravel infection processes and host responses, yet the mechanisms underlying active host transmission in insects with Entomophthoralean fungal infections are completely unexplored. Here we report the discovery, through global and targeted metabolomics supported by metagenomics and proteomics, of the plant amphetamine, cathinone, in Massospora cicadina-infected periodical cicadas, and the mushroom tryptamine, psilocybin, in M. platypediae- and M. levispora-infected annual cicadas. The neurogenic activities of these alkaloids provide a hypothetical framework for a chemically induced extended phenotype of Massospora that alters cicada behavior by increasing endurance and suppressing feeding prior to death.

Should we worry about the mushrooms that we've been eating now? I want to keep my genitals.

...this is a pretty nifty example of a "simple" organism wresting control of a much more complex organism and bending it to its own whims through psychoactive manipulation. In the case of psilocybin, found in magic mushrooms as well as this parasitic fungus, it also calls into its question its role in the various fungal species it is found in. If it simply acts as a deterrent, as some hypothesise, one would expect it to be concentrated in the vulnerable fungal mycelium, where it is only found in trace amounts. Perhaps it has a more interesting and mysterious role to play in these fungi, and I think this may add some credence to Paul Stamet's hypothesis that psilocybin in mushrooms may be acting as an attractant to other organisms (such as us), and so aid the mushroom in spreading its spores.

I do wonder sometimes if I grow mushrooms subtly directed by the mushroom itsel, imagined free will a veil of illusion.

I used to think mushrooms tricked me into growing them when I grew them. Makes sense. Great articles thanks.