On the long and cruel road of evolution, most species on the earth seem to follow a certain established routine. For example, mammals strive for "prenatal and postnatal care", and arthropods mainly rely on quantity to win.
But the protagonist I want to introduce today can be said to be "detours" that racked his brains and painstaking efforts in the course of hundreds of millions of years of evolution. has survived several species extinctions since the Cambrian period, and and its prey "love and kill each other, and are in harmony with each other."
Until it suddenly dawned millions of years ago, penetrated into the anus and reproductive tract of mammals, rested comfortably by sucking nutrients from the host, and even ventured into the red blood cells of the blood, achieving a deep symbiosis of species.
Have you guessed what species this is? Let us uncover together today the "palace drama" of this mysterious species.
"Matryoshka-like" survival
Billions of years ago, this species arose as a single-celled eukaryote. , its ancestor, originally , evolved a powerful flagellum to protect itself in 's dangerous marine environment.
As a single-celled organism without a mouth and teeth, has a very strange way of feeding itself. When targets prey, will directly concave the body of cells and into the shape of a pocket. will squirm near the prey and directly wrap it in. will form a "sandwich bubble".
then slowly secretes a large amount of digestive enzyme in the body, squirms and digests it with the food bubbles, and sucks the prey in. This eating method is called " endocytosis " in biology .
Until one day, this species encountered a troublesome ganglion- red algae . When it finishes its concave shape and wraps the red algae into a small bubble, the red algae is stimulated and the whole body becomes hard. prevents the package itself from being absorbed by the other party's digestive enzymes. Our protagonist hunter is not to be outdone. is not willing to give in even if he cannot digest it. spits out the red algae.
Although red algae is an organism at the very bottom of the biological chain , it is also the earliest "pioneer" on the earth to evolve chloroplasts . With chloroplasts, red algae can be self-sufficient through photosynthesis . When it is swallowed into the opponent's body, it delays the time of being swallowed by hardening itself.
After going back and forth like this, the protagonist Hunter and Red Algae were in an awkward stalemate. As a result, something unexpected happened to . They were consuming it day by day, and actually discovered that this harmonious symbiosis of "you have me, and I have you" is not bad!
The red algae are well protected in the body of the predator, just like the flowers in the greenhouse. and the sugar and oxygen produced by red algae through photosynthesis, can just provide nutrients to the opponent. In addition, red algae can also consume the nitrogenous waste excreted by its body metabolism . In this way, opponents who were originally natural enemies have reached a cooperative relationship.
Hunters allow red algae to coexist harmoniously in their bodies, and at the same time have the ability to photosynthesize. These hunters include diatoms , kelp, etc.
The red worm is capable of photosynthesis by devouring the red algae that live in its belly.
It must be said that it is rare for two completely different species in nature to coexist peacefully like this.
escaped species extinction and "buried into" human blood cells
When predators discovered that they had red algae in their bodies and had photosynthesis, they no longer had to work hard to find food. The initially evolved flagellum was used and discarded, and became a useless part. It began a leisurely life of and , and in this way it escaped several mass extinctions since the Cambrian.
But the eternal law of nature-things must turn to the extreme, also happened between the red algae and the hunters who fell in love and killed each other. did not expect that after living there for a long time, the nitrogenous waste in the body of the predator was not enough for the red algae to absorb . In order to feed the red algae in her body, she had to work hard to find more nitrogenous waste.
By millions of years ago, the predator had almost become one with the red algae. It had to attach itself to the more powerful marine creature and absorb the nitrogenous waste emitted by its huge body in order to seek shelter and ensure its own survival. Slowly, the hunter's ambitions continued to expand. Unwilling to live on the surface of marine organisms, it slowly wormed its way into the interior of the organism from the animal's anus and genital passages.
With large-scale species changes, many marine creatures evolved into amphibians or became terrestrial creatures. The predator that lives in the dark anus takes the red algae in its body and migrates from the ocean to the land like a hitchhiker. As for the anus and reproductive parts of the host, these places lack light, are moist and dark, and have no natural enemies, making them a "natural paradise" for predators and red algae.
It cleverly uses the digestive enzymes used to digest red algae, , to directly dissolve the epidermal cells of the anus and genitals and eat the nutrients in these parts.
Meanwhile, clever predators have almost semi-permanently taken over key anal and genital territory. Even if the host animal itself feels extremely uncomfortable, effective methods are rarely used to expel them directly from the body. The red algae already living in the body of the predator also took advantage of the upper position and settled in this warm and moist part.
In order to drill out the nitrogen-containing substances in the anus and genitals more quickly and accurately, hunters also grow a drill-like organ in their bodies, which can directly drill through the soft tissues and internal organs of vertebrates. With the evolution of vertebrates, the skills of 's snail-dwelling hunters and red algae-hiding poachers have also been upgraded.
However, their shabby accommodation has brought many infectious diseases to the host. Before these diseases were conquered in modern times, predators and the red algae in the body had already planned to "shift their positions" and entered the animal's blood circulation . You must know that there are a large number of immune cells and stationed in the blood system. Aren't they afraid of being killed directly by one move?
It turns out that the hunter has gone through hundreds of millions of years of evolution, and has also upgraded into the parasite that we are now familiar with. One of the sharp forces of is also the protagonist we are going to talk about today - Plasmodium , can actually invade red blood cells in the blood, evade the pursuit of immune system , and at the same time invade the liver to grow and develop.
Especially before the emergence of modern medicine, Plasmodium parasitized in the human body, causing many malignant events of large-scale disease and death. Scientists, with the help of precision instruments and microbiology, finally revealed the mysterious image of malaria parasites.
Final version: Plasmodium
Plasmodium has lived on the surface of animals since the ocean age, and came to land through changes in animal habitats. In fact, millions of years ago, when human ancestors had just evolved into Homo erectus , Plasmodium and humans were still in a state of inseparability. But it was not until 10,000 years ago that agricultural society developed and humans began to spontaneously migrate to places near water sources. The warm and humid environment allowed Plasmodium to once again become close to humans.
equally annoying mosquitoes, helps Plasmodium to spread over a large area, quietly burrows into the human body, and can actually melt the surface layer of red blood cells and live in the blood! has to say that the evolutionary path of Plasmodium can be called a successful counterattack by the underlying species. quietly staged a long "palace fight".
, this ancient species that was born billions of years ago, has experienced various survival threats and natural hardships like humans. has now evolved into a malaria parasite that has caused headaches for countless medical people. It lives in the human body and has brought a large number of diseases.
However, with the continuous updating of modern medicine and the advancement of medical technology, Plasmodium is no longer a mysterious incurable disease. It is hoped that various parasitic diseases that infringe the human body will be conquered one by one as soon as possible.
Author: Yi Nian
