Hangnail Infectoids

Hangnail Infectoids split from their ancestor Buhmungus Infectoids to take on a more specialized lifecycle. There are many different kinds of Hangnail Infectoids, and all are found in saltwater environments. Free living stages, and dormant spores, remain fairly similar in appearance and function as its ancestor. However a new stage in its lifecycle emerged from selection resulting in multicellular hosts becoming more adequate, and eventually the obligate form of host.

Formation of asexually and sexually resultant spores remains the same as the Buhmungus Infectoid, however they stay dormant without a multicellular host and do not infect microbes. This results in the majority being consumed by microbes and killed, however the layer of lysosomes results in the death of the predator. This lowers the number of hungry microbes in an area with spores and increases the survival rate of the next batch created for a longer period of time. If the free living mature organism is killed, then of course this stops the production of spores, and if all its spores are devoured by microbes after that then the individual fails entirely to reproduce. The shroud membrane remains an existing part of the infectoid and spore, continuing to play its role as bait for scavengers.

Infection of a multicellular host can be via the mouth or the gills, as either method brings it in contact with live epithelial cells. Once in contact with a live epithelial cell the spore will activate, shedding its shroud membrane and infiltrating the host cell. once inside it rapidly goes through the standard infectoid process of capturing the nucleus, shrouding itself, and replicating host glycolipids, extracellular compounds, and other cellular recognition tags of the host. There are two subgenus groups, uniasci and biasci, members of the uniasci specialize in parasitizing eukaryotic fauna while biasci may parasitize both eukaryotic as well as dikaryotic fauna. This distinction is based on the biasci spore containing the capacity to capture two prisoner nuclei given the absence of a recessive allele, while in the presence of such an allele it may only capture one. No Hangnail Infectoids infect flora.

Once established in its host cell the infectoid will feed passively off the nutrients and oxygen supplied by the blood of its host, or whatever means the host organism feeds its cells. If the host cell actively participates in the digestive process then the infectoid will not participate beyond the creation and release of substances, following blueprints provided by prisoner nuclei and the same pathways of transport inside vacuoles used for glycolipids to the surface of the shroud membrane. If the host cell participates in more complex behaviors in order to obtain nutrients then the infectoid will perish.

As the Hangnail Infectoid cell continues to obtain material it will undergo mitosis, replicating its nucleus without replicating the prisoner nucleus. One daughter cell inherits the prisoner nucleus, while one does not. The two resultant daughter cells cause the space inside the shroud membrane to become cramped. The daughter cell without a prisoner nucleus pushes the shroud membrane outward, in search of neighboring host cells. Contacting the neighboring cell results in the merging of the shroud membrane with the cell membrane of the neighboring host cell and immediate capture of the native nucleus and subjugation of its cytoplasm via lysosomes and enzymes. The infectoid moving in establishes itself as the new source of glycolipids and pinches down its entryway to a minor septum or pore. This allows the cavity created to continue cytoplasmic exchange between the intermembrane spaces of the sister infectoids while replicating the native structure of the host.

This growth process repeats until reaching the rough size of a mature member of its given species, at which point the septums or pores of the following generation are cut off entirely, the newly cut off daughter cells repeating the process while the mature sized biomass ceases outward growth and switches to a different behavior, a process similar to the spore production performed by free-bodied members in open waters. These spores enter the blood stream or cavities of the host and spreads through the body to cause metastatic infections of epithelial tissues. Muscles, nerves, bones and other support tissues are spared from infection. The infection generally leads to infertility as gonad cells become infected and nonfunctional. Spores may reinfest through shroud membranes, as there is no chemical distinction between it and the cell membranes of the host body, however there will be no available nucleus to capture and they will act as a dud infectoid cell inside the shroud membrane.

Eventually a significant majority of the soft tissue of the larger host is converted to Hangnail Infectoids. The blood will be rich in spores, and the mature infectoids will accumulate a high number of dud cells, reaching a tipping point that triggers them to enter their final phase of life. Once a threshold of dud cells is met, mature masses of Hangnail Infectoids will separate from one another, pulling themselves into shape to begin life in the open waters. This process is rather sudden and results in the host body crumbling apart as hundreds or thousands of individuals attempt to leave at once. This cloud of mature free-bodied infectoids lives life similar to their ancestors, filtering out food from their environment and releasing spores behind them as they swim. Sexual reproduction remains the same.

Due to the dud cell trigger that causes the completion of the lifecycle, those infectoids that have found themselves in very large hosts may not successfully reach their tipping point for many years if at all. If an individual host becomes infected with multiple individual spores, or even species, then the developing infections will continue through their usual lifecycle. If different species then the only retaliation they can inflict is the destruction of dud cells that are taken in from the blood. While dud cells from genomically different members of the same species, once free-bodied form is achieved, will supplant captured spores for the process of sexual reproduction.