Behavioural Changes Caused by Parasites: The Parasite Manipulation Hypothesis

Abstract

Translate Article

Bacteria, archaeae, fungi and viruses of the intestinal microbiome play an important role as symbionts in the complex human ecosystem. Parasites, which account for about 40 % of the earth's biodiversity, depend on hosts to complete their life cycle. This article explains how they use them and which signalling pathways play a role in this, using toxoplasmosis and malaria as examples. The parasitic manipulation hypothesis is based on impressive observations in the wild and under laboratory conditions, especially in invertebrates. For the assumption of an adaptive manipulation, every step from the genotype, the translated messenger, and its source via the used signalling pathways to the altered host behaviour must be proven. The assumption of an adaptive manipulation of humans by T. gondii in the sense of a cause-effect relationship is not proven. Alternative explanations include the inflammatory and immunological processes on the host side, which change the neuronal signal transduction as concomitant symptoms of an infection. Even without confirmation of parasitic manipulation in humans, it could be worthwhile to further investigate the observed associations in order to develop new possibilities for diagnosis and therapy, e. g. for schizophrenia.