How Asian daisies weaponized their leaves
Leaf tissue from one Asian daisy genus carries chemistry able to stop insects in their tracks while doing little to humans or other mammals. The secret lies in pyrethrins, a suite of plant secondary metabolites that plants originally deployed as a defense against herbivores and pathogens.Pyrethrins target voltage-gated sodium channels in insect neurons, holding them open so nerve impulses fire unc...More
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