These Mind-Controlling Worms Lack a Fundamental Gene Basically the Entire Animal Kingdom Possesses

Amaze Lab

This is the hairworm, which is sometimes called the mind-control worm. It gets inside of larger creatures and controls their brains, but now researchers have found another trait that is unlike anything they’ve ever seen.

Transcript

00:00 This is what is sometimes called the mind control worm, also known as the hair worm.

00:08 It gets inside the digestive tracts of other insects and works its way into the brain.

00:12 The worm then eats much of its insides, leaving just enough for it to continue living, before

00:16 compelling the creature to dive into water and drown, allowing the aquatic worms to exit,

00:21 mate and lay their eggs.

00:23 That's wild enough for one creature, but now experts just discovered another strange

00:27 trait of these mind controlling creatures.

00:29 Their cells don't have any cilia.

00:31 The microscopic hair is pretty much all cells in all living things in the animal kingdom

00:35 possess.

00:36 Cilia allow cells to move around, and two specific species of these worms lack those

00:39 definitive biological bits.

00:41 A deeper dive into their DNA revealed they're both missing roughly 30% of the genes experts

00:46 believe are responsible for cilia development.

00:49 This is often the case for parasitic creatures, which is why they latch onto others and utilize

00:53 their bodies.

00:54 The researchers say they aren't sure if this is a trait that has evolved due to their

00:57 specific parasitic lifestyle, or if they've always just gotten along without cilia.

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