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Article is focused on the study of the parasite, but weirdly didn't touch on the potential hobby / commercial use of a fungus that attacks fruit fly. Here in A

by Jedd 3y ago

Article is focused on the study of the parasite, but weirdly didn't touch on the potential hobby / commercial use of a fungus that attacks fruit fly. Here in Australia we have two major fruit fly pests - the Mediterranean (introduced) and the Queensland (native). Pesticides are either very nasty or very expensive (or both). Effective netting is extremely difficult, and very expensive. There's been some promising progress on using fungus to try to control two major honey industry pests - small hive beetle and varroa destructor. I'm really looking forward to deploy-and-mostly-forget bio controls for pests that we can deploy at landmass level. eg. https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-evolve-fungus-battle-deadly-honey-bee-parasite https://www.science.org/content/article/scientists-evolve-fu... (Varroa) https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/09-090.pdf https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/0... (small hive beetle)

bibanez 3y ago
The pest control you’re talking about seems really dangerous. Disrupting an entire species and consequently the food chain + giving zombie fungus a lot of biomass to feed on and evolve…
- elliotwagner 3y ago
  sounds like a movie plot haha
- viraptor 3y ago
  > Disrupting an entire species and consequently the food chain One of the types was introduced in a not very distant past, so it doesn't seem like a bigger disruption than what we've already done.
  - teaearlgraycold 3y ago
    You should read up on stoat introduction to New Zealand.
    - tuatoru 3y ago
      Pretty sure viraptor would know about that. Also rabbits and myxamatosis and later rabbit calicivirus in both Australia and NZ, and various other well-intended biological "control" introductions that went pear shaped. Cane toads, for instance. Miscellaneous parasitic wasps.
- mach1ne 3y ago
  Luckily this zombie fungus is very precise in what species it targets, and a fungus specialized in fruit fly would find it borderline impossible to jump even to other kinds of flies.
  - ijustlovemath 3y ago
    Right at this moment, yes, but after infecting a billion fruit flies, evolution would have given it a billion chances to jump species. Seems enormously irresponsible to release a fungus like this.
    - b112 3y ago
      And fruit flies are often used, due to their short life cycle, for genetic experiments. They evolve fast. Case in point, they are now known to metabolize ddt, and I think this was discovered 20 years ago. And any fungus will try to evolve with them... and theoretically the local species have no defense?
    - Jedd 3y ago
      It's surprisingly difficult to get an estimate on the fruit fly population of California, or even just an average 'per unit area' figure. Anyway, this fungus is already endemic in California, and I believe California has a major problem with this pest. I'd be surprised if there weren't at least a billion fruit flies active in California mid-summer. As I said in a sibling comment, let's do some safety validation & deployment testing, but also let's not forget this is already out there.
  - mannykannot 3y ago
    There are many species of the Entomophthora genus capable of this brain-controlling mechanism [1], and at least this one (Entomophthora muscae) was already known to infect house flies and dung flies [2]. On the one hand, this suggests the genus is capable of adapting to many hosts. On the other, if some Entomophthora species are already endemic in Australia, then presumably the host-jumping risk is already present. Either way, it seems wise to be cautious. Or maybe E.muscae is already present there? If that is the case, then the question is moot. Furthermore, the fact that it has only recently been seen in fruit flies, despite the latter being extensively studied, suggests it might not be useful in controlling their numbers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophthora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophthora [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Entomophthora_muscae_on_Scathophaga_stercoraria_(lateral_view).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Entomophthora_muscae_on_S...
- Jedd 3y ago
  The pest control I'm talking about 'releasing' is literally already in Carolyn's back yard - Carolyn being the post-doc researcher subject of TFA, based in California, USA. So, yeah, it's really dangerous, but probably only for these species of fruit fly. I'm not suggesting we (Australia) would not validate it against other related species, including native fruit flies, and then do a risk / benefit analysis based on those findings. Regular inoculation of trap bait/fruit, regional dispersal schedules, etc may be all that's required to knock pest population numbers down periodically.
rpastuszak 3y ago
> hobby Hobby?
- viraptor 3y ago
  Let him who never wanted to remote control a fruit fly cast the first stone... https://newatlas.com/science/fly-brains-hack-remote-controlled/ https://newatlas.com/science/fly-brains-hack-remote-controll...
- Jedd 3y ago
  Oh, I missed a word - should have written 'potential hobby / commercial farmers' (or orchardists, fruit growers, etc).
  - rpastuszak 3y ago
    Hehe, my imagination went to some amusingly dark places. Finally we can create a cyberpunk Beelzebub!
interfixus 3y ago
> the Mediterranean (introduced) But this time, nothing will go wrong.
madeofpalk 3y ago
> Queensland > I'm really looking forward to deploy-and-mostly-forget bio controls for pests that we can deploy at landmass level. Did we just forget how Queensland already tried with with Cane Toads and it went horribly? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia
- corndoge 3y ago
  But from the synopsis section of that wikipedia page, there is an example of biological control going well in australia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_cactorum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_cactorum Perhaps it isn't a black and white issue after all
  - richk449 3y ago
    In the same way that Russian roulette isn’t a black and white issue?
- didgeoridoo 3y ago
  And don’t forget myxomatosis!
MagicMoonlight 3y ago
Please stop developing bioweapons. We just went through one and now you want to release one on purpose which can hide in brains? We can’t even defeat athletes foot and that’s only on the skin surface.

by Jedd 3y ago

bibanez 3y ago

The pest control you’re talking about seems really dangerous. Disrupting an entire species and consequently the food chain + giving zombie fungus a lot of biomass to feed on and evolve…

elliotwagner 3y ago
sounds like a movie plot haha
viraptor 3y ago
> Disrupting an entire species and consequently the food chain One of the types was introduced in a not very distant past, so it doesn't seem like a bigger disruption than what we've already done.
- teaearlgraycold 3y ago
  You should read up on stoat introduction to New Zealand.
  - tuatoru 3y ago
    Pretty sure viraptor would know about that. Also rabbits and myxamatosis and later rabbit calicivirus in both Australia and NZ, and various other well-intended biological "control" introductions that went pear shaped. Cane toads, for instance. Miscellaneous parasitic wasps.
mach1ne 3y ago
Luckily this zombie fungus is very precise in what species it targets, and a fungus specialized in fruit fly would find it borderline impossible to jump even to other kinds of flies.
- ijustlovemath 3y ago
  Right at this moment, yes, but after infecting a billion fruit flies, evolution would have given it a billion chances to jump species. Seems enormously irresponsible to release a fungus like this.
  - b112 3y ago
    And fruit flies are often used, due to their short life cycle, for genetic experiments. They evolve fast. Case in point, they are now known to metabolize ddt, and I think this was discovered 20 years ago. And any fungus will try to evolve with them... and theoretically the local species have no defense?
  - Jedd 3y ago
    It's surprisingly difficult to get an estimate on the fruit fly population of California, or even just an average 'per unit area' figure. Anyway, this fungus is already endemic in California, and I believe California has a major problem with this pest. I'd be surprised if there weren't at least a billion fruit flies active in California mid-summer. As I said in a sibling comment, let's do some safety validation & deployment testing, but also let's not forget this is already out there.
- mannykannot 3y ago
  There are many species of the Entomophthora genus capable of this brain-controlling mechanism [1], and at least this one (Entomophthora muscae) was already known to infect house flies and dung flies [2]. On the one hand, this suggests the genus is capable of adapting to many hosts. On the other, if some Entomophthora species are already endemic in Australia, then presumably the host-jumping risk is already present. Either way, it seems wise to be cautious. Or maybe E.muscae is already present there? If that is the case, then the question is moot. Furthermore, the fact that it has only recently been seen in fruit flies, despite the latter being extensively studied, suggests it might not be useful in controlling their numbers. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophthora https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entomophthora [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Entomophthora_muscae_on_Scathophaga_stercoraria_(lateral_view).jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Entomophthora_muscae_on_S...
Jedd 3y ago
The pest control I'm talking about 'releasing' is literally already in Carolyn's back yard - Carolyn being the post-doc researcher subject of TFA, based in California, USA. So, yeah, it's really dangerous, but probably only for these species of fruit fly. I'm not suggesting we (Australia) would not validate it against other related species, including native fruit flies, and then do a risk / benefit analysis based on those findings. Regular inoculation of trap bait/fruit, regional dispersal schedules, etc may be all that's required to knock pest population numbers down periodically.

rpastuszak 3y ago

> hobby Hobby?

viraptor 3y ago
Let him who never wanted to remote control a fruit fly cast the first stone... https://newatlas.com/science/fly-brains-hack-remote-controlled/ https://newatlas.com/science/fly-brains-hack-remote-controll...
Jedd 3y ago
Oh, I missed a word - should have written 'potential hobby / commercial farmers' (or orchardists, fruit growers, etc).
- rpastuszak 3y ago
  Hehe, my imagination went to some amusingly dark places. Finally we can create a cyberpunk Beelzebub!

interfixus 3y ago

> the Mediterranean (introduced) But this time, nothing will go wrong.

madeofpalk 3y ago

> Queensland > I'm really looking forward to deploy-and-mostly-forget bio controls for pests that we can deploy at landmass level. Did we just forget how Queensland already tried with with Cane Toads and it went horribly? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cane_toads_in_Australia

corndoge 3y ago
But from the synopsis section of that wikipedia page, there is an example of biological control going well in australia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_cactorum https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cactoblastis_cactorum Perhaps it isn't a black and white issue after all
- richk449 3y ago
  In the same way that Russian roulette isn’t a black and white issue?
didgeoridoo 3y ago
And don’t forget myxomatosis!

MagicMoonlight 3y ago

Please stop developing bioweapons. We just went through one and now you want to release one on purpose which can hide in brains? We can’t even defeat athletes foot and that’s only on the skin surface.