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Parasites manipulate praying mantis’s polarized-light perception, causing it to jump into water
Researchers have revealed that praying mantis (mantids) infected with parasitic hairworms are attracted to horizontally polarized light that is strongly reflected off the surface of water, which causes them to enter the water. In a world-first, these research results demonstrate that parasites can manipulate the host’s specific light perception system to their advantage, causing the host to behave in an abnormal manner.
This discovery was made by an international research group consisting of Graduate student OBAYASHI Nasono, Associate Professor SAKURA Midori and Associate Professor SATO Takuya of Kobe University’s Graduate School of Science, Associate Professor IWATANI Yasushi (Faculty of Science and Technology, Hirosaki University), Professor TAMOTSU Satoshi (KYOUSEI Science Center for Life and Nature, Nara Women’s University) and Dr. CHIU Ming-Chung (National Changhu
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An inter-university research group has succeeded in constructing the gene expression network behind the vascular development process in plants. They achieved this by performing bioinformatics analysis using the VISUAL tissue culture platform, which generates vascular stem cells from leaf cells. In this network, they also discovered a new BES/BZR transcription factor, BEH3, and illuminated its role in vascular cell maintenance.