News Life

How a virus turns caterpillars into zombies doomed to climb to their deaths

Manipulating the activity of genes used in vision triggers ‘tree-top disease’

a cotton bollworm moth caterpillar on a leaf

Caterpillars of the cotton bollworm moth (Helicoverpa armigera) shimmy skyward when infected with a gene-manipulating virus that ups the insects’ attraction to sunlight.

David McClenaghan/CSIRO (CC BY 3.0)

By Jake Buehler

- More than 2 years ago

Higher and higher still, the cotton bollworm moth caterpillar climbs, its tiny body ceaselessly scaling leaf after leaf.