ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2023
Parasitoid wasp venom re-programs host behavior through downmodulation of brain central complex activity and motor output.
Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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4 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Review
- Behavioral recovery profiling of cockroaches stung by the venomous wasp Ampulex compressa.The Journal of experimental biology · 2025Article
- The caterpillar Manduca sexta brain shows changes in gene expression and protein abundance correlating with parasitic manipulation of behaviour.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Viral- and fungal-mediated behavioral manipulation of hosts: summit disease.Applied microbiology and biotechnology · 2024Review
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The parasitoid wasp Ampulex compressa hunts down its host, the American cockroach (Periplaneta americana), and envenomates its brain to make it a behaviorally compliant food supply for its offspring. The primary target of the wasp sting is a locomotory command center called the central complex (CX). In the present study, we employ, for the first time, chronic recordings of patterned cockroach CX activity in real time as the brain is infused with wasp venom. CX envenomation is followed by sequential changes in the pattern of neuronal firing that can be divided into three distinct temporal phases during the 2 h interval after venom injection: (1) reduction in neuronal activity for roughly 10 min immediately after venom injection; (2) rebound of activity lasting up to 25 min; (3) reduction of ongoing activity for up to 2 h. Long-term reduction of CX activity after venom injection is accompanied by decreased activity of both descending interneurons projecting to thoracic locomotory circuitry (DINs) and motor output. Thus, in this study, we provide a plausible chain of events starting in the CX that leads to decreased host locomotion following brain envenomation. We propose that these events account for the onset and maintenance of the prolonged hypokinetic state observed in stung cockroaches.
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