Cordyceps
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Cordyceps Template:IPAc-en is a genus of ascomycete fungi (sac fungi) that includes over 260 species worldwide, many of which are parasitic. Diverse variants of cordyceps have had more than 1,500 years of use in Chinese medicine.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Most Cordyceps species are endoparasitoids, parasitic mainly on insects and other arthropods (they are thus entomopathogenic fungi); a few are parasitic on other fungi.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The generic name Cordyceps is derived from the ancient Greek κορδύλη kordýlē, meaning "club", and the Latin -ceps, derived from Latin caput, meaning "head".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The genus has a worldwide distribution, with most of the known species<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> being from Asia.
Taxonomy
There are two recognized subgenera:<ref name=IndexFungorum>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Cordyceps subgen. Cordyceps Fr. 1818<ref>Elias Magnus Fries, Observ. mycol. (Havniae) 2: 316 (cancellans) (1818)</ref>
- Cordyceps subgen. Cordylia Tul. & C. Tul. 1865<ref>Edmond Tulasne & Charles Tulasne, Select. fung. carpol. (Paris) 3: 20 (1865)</ref>
Cordyceps sensu stricto are the teleomorphs of several genera of anamorphic, entomopathogenic fungi such as Beauveria (Cordyceps bassiana), Septofusidium, and Lecanicillium.<ref name=Sung07/>
Splits
Cordyceps subgen. Epichloe was at one time a subgenus, but is now regarded as a separate genus, Epichloë.<ref name=IndexFungorum/>
Cordyceps subgen. Ophiocordyceps was at one time a subgenus defined by morphology. Nuclear DNA sampling done in 2007 shows that members, including "C. sinensis" and "C. unilateralis", as well as some others not placed in the subgenus, were distantly related to most of the remainder of species then placed in Cordyceps (e.g. the type species C. militaris). As a result, it became its own genus, absorbing new members.<ref name=Sung07>Template:Cite journal</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
The 2007 study also peeled off Metacordyceps (anamorph Metarhizium, Pochonia) and Elaphocordyceps. A number of species remain unclearly assigned and provisionally retained in Cordyceps sensu lato.<ref name=Sung07/>
Selected species
There are over 260 species in the genus Cordyceps including the following species:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Anamorphic genera
Isaria is a genus name that has been applied to many anamorphs of Cordyceps species. This genus itself is treated as a synonym of Cordyceps in Species Fungorum following the "one fungus one name" change,<ref name="if8636">Template:Cite web</ref> but many species names with Isaria are still preferred by Species Fungorum over the synonyms in other genera (e.g. Isaria sinclarii is preferred over Cordyceps sinclairii).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Though confusing, this does match the "equal footing for priority" approach of the "one fungus one name" concept. To add to the complexity, Isaria is a conserved name with a conserved type.<ref name="if8636"/> What remains under Isaria as of 2016 remains polyphyletic and can be divided into three main clades.<ref name=Dai>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Anamorphic genera closely allied to Cordyceps sensu stricto include Evlachovaea, Lecanicillium and Beauveria.<ref name=Dai/>
Biology
When Cordyceps attacks a host, the mycelium invades and eventually replaces the host tissue, while the elongated fruit body (ascocarp) may be cylindrical, branched, or of complex shape. The ascocarp bears many small, flask-shaped perithecia containing asci. These, in turn, contain thread-like ascospores, which usually break into fragments and are presumably infective.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Research
Polysaccharide components and the nucleoside cordycepin isolated from C. militaris are under basic research, but more advanced clinical research has been limited and too low in quality to identify any therapeutic potential of cordyceps components.<ref name="drugs">Template:Cite web</ref>
Uses
Cordyceps sensu lato (which now includes Ophiocordyceps and many other genera holding species originally in this genus) has long been used in traditional Chinese medicine in the belief it can be used to treat diseases.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=sl>Template:Cite journal</ref> There is no strong scientific evidence for such uses.<ref name="drugs" />
Cultural representations
The video game series The Last of Us (2013– ) and its television adaptation present Cordyceps as a deadly threat to the human race, its parasitism powerful enough to result in global calamity.<ref name="Hill 2013 SciAm"/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The result is a zombie apocalypse and the collapse of human civilization. Scientific American notes that some species in the genus "are indeed body snatchers–they have been making real zombies for millions of years", though of ants or tarantulas, not of humans.<ref name="Hill 2013 SciAm"/>
The Last of Us proceeds from the premise that a new species of Cordyceps manages to jump the species barrier, from nonhuman to human, as diseases like influenza and viruses like Ebola and COVID-19 have done. Its human hosts initially become violent "infected" beings, before turning into blind zombie "clickers", complete with fungal "fruiting bodies sprouting from their faces".<ref name="Hill 2013 SciAm"/> In a detail that reflects Cordyceps biology, "clickers" then seek out a dark place in which to die and release the fungal spores, enabling the parasite to complete its life cycle.<ref name="Hill 2013 SciAm"/> Scientific American comments that by combining a plausible mechanism with effective artistic design, the series gains "both scientific rigor and beauty".<ref name="Hill 2013 SciAm">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
In similar vein, Cordyceps causes a pandemic that wipes out most of humanity in Mike Carey's 2014 postapocalyptic novel The Girl with All the Gifts and its 2016 film adaptation.<ref name="Bachman 2020"/> In this case, an infected person becomes a "hungry", a zombie thirsting for blood. In the fiction, Dr. Caldwell explains that the human-infecting fungus is a mutated form of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis (a group of species now split off from Cordyceps) which alters the behaviour of infected insects. The children of infected mothers, however, become "hybrids" with antibodies protecting them against the fungus.<ref name="Bachman 2020">Template:Cite web</ref>
Gallery
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Cordyceps militaris
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Cordyceps militaris
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