Team uncovers how microsporidian parasites prevent locust swarm behavior

(Phys.org) —A team of researchers in China, with assistance from U.S. entomologist Raymond St. Leger has uncovered the means by which a microbe can reduce swarming tendencies in locusts. In their paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the team describes how they were able to isolate the mechanism by which Paranosema locustae infections in locusts' leads to less pheromone production and release in scat, which in turn causes less swarming response in other locusts.

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