Spooky season is here! While we associate Halloween with ghost stories, haunted houses, zombies, and trick-or-treating, the microbial world contains many eerie, microscopic (and macroscopic) tales. This Halloween, we bring you seven tales of microbial spookiness.
(1) Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus, the vampire bacteria
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus has many names such as the vampire bacterium or the predatory bacterium that describes its lifestyle.
To begin replicating, the bacterium finds its prey bacterium, attaches, and invades. Then Bdellovibrio ingests the contents inside, using it for its own growth. It replicates inside and then bursts from the membrane as many more bacterial cells to further invade other prey bacteria.
Learn more about Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus in this microbial poem!
(2) Vampire bacteria, part II (Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus)
Another predatory bacteria, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus relies on sucking out the insides of other cells for growth and survival. But unlike Bdellovibrio, this bacterium attaches to the cell wall of green algae where it replicates while emptying out contents of the algae. It leaves only the algae’s cell wall and membrane behind.
Bdellovibrio bactriovorus and Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus aren’t the only predatory bacteria out there. Check out the video below to learn about a few other bacteria on the hunt for their next microbial meal.
(3) Tuberculosis and the New England Vampire Panic
Vampires and tuberculosis? Yep. The New England Vampire Panic was a result of a tuberculosis outbreak in the 19th century. At the time, tuberculosis was called “consumption” as the disease appeared to consume an infected person and slowly spread from one family member to another, draining life from entire families
During the panic, people dug up the bodies from those that have died from tuberculosis. The corpses determined to be “feeding” off of the living were either turned in their grave, had their organs burned, or decapitated in attempts of riding it of its vampiristic tendencies.
Listen to the Ridiculous History podcast’s two part episode, New England versus Vampires, for more details.
(4) Zombie fungus and microbial mind control
In tropical rainforests, the fungus Ophicordyceps unilateralis, or the zombie fungus, parasitizes Camponotini ants, controls their mind, and eventually kills them leaving it as a fascinatingly eerie carcass of fungal growth. When colonized, ants leave their home on the forest floors and climb trees. Then, the ant locks its jaws into the plant tissue and dies. After the “death grip” the ant transforms into an alien-like structure, sprouting fruiting bodies from their heads that rupture and disperses spores below to infect new ants.
(5) Slime mold aka the blob
Inspired by the 1958 horror film, Audrey Dussutour calls the microbe she studies “Le blob.” But unlike the alien from the movie, or the Halloween-y perception of slime as green and oozy, the slime mold is a yellow unicellular organism with the scientific name Physarum polycephalum. It grows fast. It can escape from Petri dishes (as witnessed by Dussutour herself). And, it solves mazes. All without a brain. Check out the interview with Dussutour on the Joyful Microbe to hear more about her work on slime molds and their escape from the Petri dishes.
(6) Zombie worms
Aside from zombie ants, there are also zombie worms. These creatures live deep in the ocean and feast on bones. The worms have no digestive tract as we know it so they secrete acid to “digest” the bones. Endosymbionts of these worms help them get nutrients such as collagen or cholesterol from the bones.
Learn more about zombie worms here.
(7) Werewolves inspired by rabies
What’s the origin of werewolves? Perhaps it stems from medical conditions such as hypertrichosis, or unusually long hair on the body. Or maybe it is a condition called porphyra, which makes the afflicted sensitive to light. Or, could it be rabies, a disease spread by bites of infected animals. An extra Halloween-y tale from the Microbigals blog takes a look in more detail at the virus that inspired tales of werewolves.
Featured image by Tehseen Bhutta
