Latest publications Archives

Cover of G3: Genes, Genomes, Genetics, July 2020, features an ant with a parasitic fungus growing from its body.

Genetic Underpinnings of Host Manipulation by Ophiocordyceps as Revealed by Comparative Transcriptomics

July 8, 2020 Adriana De Bekker 0

Check out our latest publication in G3. For this publication, Ian, Biplabendu, Thienthanh, and Charissa collaborated with Robin Ohm from Utrecht University and Andreas Brachmann […]

A dead ant is attached to a thin branch with fungal growths protruding from its body. The background is green and blurred.

Ophiocordyceps-ant interactions as an integrative model to understand the molecular basis of parasitic behavioral manipulation.

June 1, 2019 Adriana De Bekker 0

Charissa offers an opinion piece on current hypotheses and the state of the field in Ophiocordyceps and behavior manipulation by parasites.

Illustration depicting experiments in a forest setting with three close-up images (a, b, c) of bees on plants. Images show different perspectives of the bees interacting with the foliage.

Do zombie ant fungi turn their hosts into light seekers?

January 8, 2019 Adriana De Bekker 0

A longitudinal field survey in the Amazonian rainforest in Brazil, in collaboration with our colleagues there, point to light as a major cue underlying the […]

A diagram illustrating the circadian rhythm. It includes key components like BMAL1, CLOCK, PER, CRY, SCN, and various influences like light, food, exercise, social interaction, and temperature.

The evolutionary ecology of circadian rhythms in infection.

January 1, 2019 Adriana De Bekker 0

In this perspective, how circadian rhythm influences host and parasite biology are discussed – and, if behavior manipulating parasites could leverage clock pathways and behaviors […]

Diagram showing how different parasite groups (insects, protozoans, prokaryotes, helminths, fungi, virus) manipulate ant behaviors leading to various phenotypes like hyperactivity and task abandonment.

The ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) and their parasites: effects of parasitic manipulations and host responses on ant behavioral ecology

August 28, 2018 Adriana De Bekker 0

In this review, we discuss the current literature on parasites of ants and their impacts on individual, caste, and colony behavior. The review also points […]

Clustered heatmaps displaying day and night activity data for two sets of subjects. Blue indicates lower activity, yellow indicates higher activity. Rows represent subjects, columns represent time points.

Daily rhythms and enrichment patterns in the transcriptome of the behavior-manipulating parasite Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae

November 3, 2017 Adriana De Bekker 0

In our newest publication, published in PLOS ONE, we show that the zombie ant fungus Ophiocordyceps kimflemingiae has a functional biological clock and that this results in […]

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Parasitic behavioral manipulation

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