Deadly Chemistry Flashcards
How are the two different types of plant structure called, that are involved in „shooting“ out chemicals
Lacticifers
Resin ducts
What are Lacticifers?
Produce and store latex
What is latex?
A water soluble emulsion containing highly polymerized terpenes as well as proteins
What do lactifers consist of?
A single cell, several centimeters longwhich may be branched or unbranched
What happens when a lactifer is damaged?
The latex oozes out and gets sticky bc it is exposed to air
What are cardenolides in milkweed latex?
Toxins
They inhibit Na+/K+ ATPases (cation pump that is responsible for transporting NA+ out of the cell and K+ into it)
When insects feed on it they becomecataleptic
What can lactifers be?
Living cells
Resin ducts
Secretory canals#
Intercellular spaces which develop through seperation or breakdown of cells
What are Ecdysteroids?
Steroidal hormones present in all classes of arthropods
They regulate aspects of development, meetamorphisis and reproduction
What are arthropods?
An insect
How are insects able to produce their steroid hormones?
They cant produce their own steroid nucleus
To do so they need to obtain cholesterol and sitosterol from their diet
This allows moulting
What are Brassica tissues?
Tissues in cabbages containg mustard oil
Where are glucosinolates kept in brassica tissues?
Seperate from the enzyme responsible for breaking them down - myrosinase.
If an insects feeds on it, they contact -> isothiocyanates and nitrils get released
The mixture of those is toxic
Are glucosinolates only released by feeding?
Some of them are on the leaf top
Why are glucosinolates on the leaf surface?
As a first line of plant defence
Deterring non specialist insects and pathogens
What are saponins?
triterpenoid compounds that are antimicrobial that also act as feeding deterrents
What is the major glucosinolate in cabbages?
Sinigrin which forms mustard oil ( allyl isothiocyanate) when hydrolysed by myrosinase