Abstract
Ophiocordyceps unilateralis is a parasitic fungus that can manipulate the behavior of Carpenter ants. The fungus causes the ant to bite down onto some type of vegetation until it eventually dies there. Once dead, the fungus grows a stock with a fruiting body from the base of the ant’s head. The fungus then releases its spores to infect other ants. The goal of the Zombie Ant Laboratory is to study how Ophicordyceps unilateralis manipulates Carpenter ant behavior on a molecular level. To research this, it is important to observe it in its natural habitat and in a laboratory setting; the fungus can be grown successfully outside the ant in the lab. However, no one has successfully grown the fungus inside an ant in the lab. When the fungus in the ant is grown in the lab, it comes out of every opening of the ant instead of just as a stock. The goal of this research project is to successfully grow the fungus inside the ant in a lab environment. To do this, I have gathered information about the average temperature, humidity, and amount of light in Orlando, Florida from May-July. I will put infected ants that have not grown a stock yet through different temperatures and amount of light while keeping the humidity constant. If I can find the right conditions to grow the fungus in the laboratory it will make simulating the fungus easier. This would greatly help future experiments involved with studying the fungus in the laboratory.
Date Created
April 2018
STARS Citation
Santamaria, Brianna, "Growing the Zombie Ant Fungus in the Lab: Optimizing Conditions for Stalk Formation in Host and Culturing in Media" (2018). EGS Content. 428.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/egs_content/428
https://works.bepress.com/brianna-santamaria/1/download/