Free Will Ain’t Free

Biology concepts – neural parasitology, domoic acid toxicity 

Zombies don’t have a choice in how they behave. Free will is a thing of the past; they don’t even have the ability to resist a dance routine with Michael Jackson. Michael seems awfully at ease in the midst of the undead. Creepy….yes. Scary…. yes. A thriller?…..maybe no.

It would be hard to believe that zombies develop a taste for human flesh, especially brains, out of nowhere. It would seem that they don’t have a choice; their activities are decided for them. They’ve lost their free will.

Don’t scoff at this; nature is full of examples where one organism can cause another organism to change its behavior – just think of all the silly things boys do trying to impress girls. But first a couple of stories where a change in behavior has less to do with parasitism.

In August 2013, residents of Moscow began reporting that the pigeons were acting odd. They would walk around in a funk, not get out of the way of traffic, and not fly away from danger. One family reported that their dinner one evening was disrupted by a pigeon on their window ledge that lost its balance and fell into their kitchen.

These zombie pigeons (the pecking dead, as one website called them) were freaking out the population, so the scientists went to work. It seems that many of the dead and affected pigeons were carrying salmonella bacteria and/or had Newcastle disease. The virus that causes this disease, unimaginatively called the Newcastle disease virus (NDV), can be transmitted to humans, so it's a good thing the population got freaked out.

The virus causes the birds to stagger about, stumble around in circles, and turn their heads upside down – much like vodka does in humans. However, when humans get NDV, they most likely will just have a flu-like episode.

Zombie birds also led to a famous movie. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film, The Birds, is the story of a terrifying attack on a small fishing village by many flocks of different birds. They attacked people, flew into car windows and houses, and caused deaths and damage. Seems silly doesn’t it, being killed by a shore bird? I think I would have them give some other reason in my obituary.

Tippi Hedrin was the female lead in Hitchcock’s The Birds. Hitch had seen her in some commercials and chose her over Grace Kelly….. GRACE KELLY! Later on , he developed an unhealthy obsession with Tippi, and who wouldn’t, with all that running and screaming and bird doo?

It turns out that the movie was based on a 1961 incident near Monterey Bay, California. The birds went nuts and no one knew why – that makes it creepier. It wasn’t until 1995 when another episode of bizarre behavior in sea lions led to the answer.  The sea lions in 1995 and 2010-11 were acting like zombies as well. They wouldn’t get out of the way of boats or they would come up on land and just keep scooting inland until they died.

In 1987, it was recognized that a toxin produced by certain species of marine algae was responsible for the zombie like behaviors. Called domoic acid, the toxin is produced by the algae and accumulates in marine organisms that feed on phytoplankton or algae that are contaminated. Normally, levels of domoic acid are too low to cause problems, but in years where the algae overgrows, called a bloom, the levels will rise dramatically.

Although the acid seems to have no affect on lower life like shellfish, bigger animals are strongly affected, including humans. When the sea lions or birds feed on contaminated food, they begin to display the bizarre behaviors. In the case of the 1961 birds, there happened to be a collection of samples from the bay that had been kept all these years. Tests on the shellfish and algae samples from 1961 showed high levels of domoic acid.

In a strange coincidence, a new paper has been published about how infections can move through a flock of birds. It uses a mathematical model based on many predictors and factors. The model is called the Zombie-City model, based on how a zombie population might grow in a population of unsuspecting humans. But we want to focus on the loss of free will in nature’s creatures.

Free will in lower animals?  It does exist. Most people believe that the behaviors of insects and such are merely responses to environmental and situational cues, and any variation in behavior is due to misreading of cues or random errors. But studies in fruitflies show that they can pick out their own patterns of behavior when a blank canvas is given them.

The Emerald Cockroach Wasp (A. compressa) is solitary insect, it doesn’t live communally as many bees and wasps do.  Only the females have stingers, so making zombies is definitely a reproductive strategy. In 1941, they were introduced to Hawaii to try and control the cockroach population, but it didn’t work. They just don’t lay enough eggs.

One such case of co-opted free will in an insect is the Jewel Wasp (Ampulex compressa) and the American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana). The wasp lives in Africa and Asia, so this isn’t something we could use to get rid of NYC cockroaches. P. Americana isn’t even native to the Americas. It was introduced from Africa as early as 1625, before it was officially named.

T. gondiiactivates a certain neuronal transcription factor, which leads to increased production of different proteins in the brain. In rodents and humans, this leads to an increase in dopamine (similar to octopamine in the cockroach) production and a decrease in tryptophan usage.

Because the cysts target areas of the rodent brain that control fear, the change in behaviors are involve, but are not limited to fear. There isn’t any evidence that the cysts have a selective range in the human brain, but considering the changes that occur in men as described below, it is a possibility.

On the left are four T. gondii parasites and on the right are the cysts that they can form in the brain. Recent ecvidences are showing that cysts of T. gondii can be linked to increased chance of suicide attempt and more violent attempts, more depression and neurotic behavior, and an increased chance of having children that will develop schizophrenia. In humans, this may have something to do directly with the parasite, or it may be that high levels of immune modulators lead to the changes in thoughts and behaviors. Scary thought, our immune system could drive us to kill ourselves.

There is a suspicion that T. gondii produces an enzyme that catalyzes the formation of a dopamine precursor. Dopamine is a catecholamine, so it is involved in the fight or flight response; definitely a fear component. The interesting thing is that even a latent (asymptomatic) infection affects men and women differently. Bizarrely, a 2011 study showed that infected men are more attracted to cat urine, while infected women find it less attractive.

In general, men with a long-term T. gondii infection show lower IQs, are taller (about 3 cm on average), and are more likely to break rules, take risks, be jealous, and exhibit anti-social behaviors. Right now – I’m not so proud to be a guy.

On the other hand, women with long-term toxoplasmosis infections tend to be more outgoing, friendlier, more promiscuous, and more attractive to men. Wow, Mars and Venus to the nth degree! The question still remains – how do the forced behavior changes in humans benefit the organism?

Next week, we return to our discussion of nucleic acid exceptions by discussing instances where organisms can rewrite their genetic code.