By Ben Harder
Insects, be warned. Research on three continents has turned up two new classes of selective pesticides that immobilize and eventually kill many insect species by interfering with a cell receptor unique to the insects. The novel chemicals could potentially prevent infestations of crops while posing minimal danger to noninsects.
“Both classes of chemicals act at the ryanodine receptor,” making them the first synthetic molecules to demonstrate this insect-imperiling behavior, says physiologist Daniel Cordova of DuPont Crop Protection in Newark, Del. By regulating how calcium moves within animal cells, that receptor plays an essential role in processes such as muscle contraction.