This Deadly Fungus Shapeshifts to Get Deep Inside Your Brain Tissue

It sounds like the premise of a horror movie, but scientists have found that the Cryptococcus neoformans actually changes in size once it enters a body, increasing its chance of infections.

In the wild, it can be found in rotting wood or bird droppings. The ability to travel from the lungs through the bloodstream to other organs is the same as it was when inhaling.

The pathogen can cause a number of health issues, including the rare but potentially fatal condition of brain swelling.

It could eventually be helped by new findings from a study in mice.

According to Jessica Brown from the University of Utah, cryptococcus cells in the lungs are different in appearance and size. I was shocked when my graduate student showed me the pictures.

There was a strong reason why only a small group of cells were making it into the body.

Scientists knew that the fungus could grow up to 10 times its normal size in the lungs, so they set out to find out why cells of a specific size were found deep in host territory.

The researchers found that the smallest cells tend to find their way into the brain.

Changes to the surface of the smaller cells and differences in the genes that were active in those fungi were detected by the team. The researchers suggest that the'seed cells' aren't just shrunk down versions of the fungus.

The scientists' experiments show that the changes are powered byphosphate. The element is plentiful in bird droppings because of the release ofphosphate from host cells. The catalyst for the fungus being able to shapeshift is thought to be this.

Brown believes that the ability to transmit diseases to mammals is a result of environmental pressures.

The mice were able to make the cells all the way to the brain in a few days. The researchers claim that the way in which the fungus can adapt to different environments is key to its success.

The next step is to find drugs that can block this process and prevent damage to the body. There may be regulatory approved compounds that could be effective.

With recent research into how the fungus breaks through the blood-brain barrier that protects the brain, we're getting a better understanding of how it spreads.

The researchers say that the formation of a small C. neoformans morphotype is important for extrapulmonary organ entry.

The research was published in a journal.