Plant chemical defense based on mustard oil bomb
Producing toxic chemicals is an efficient strategy to protect plants from the herbivores. One of such defense chemicals are glucosinolates, which are produced in the plants of order Brassicales. The glucosinolates are thioglucosides, and their toxic activity is induced after deglycosidation by myrosinase. The defense system is called “mustard oil bomb”. Recent findings revealed that the number of myrosinases in Brassicales is higher than previously proposed, suggesting the variety of its defense system in Brassicales. It is proposed that the divergence of defense strategy is caused by the interaction of plant and herbivores. However, there is no direct evidence the plant-Herbivore interaction directs the divergence of plant defense systems, and it is still unknown about the impact of the changes of plant defense systems to the behavior of insect. The aim of our project is to understand how the plants of order Brassicales diverged chemical defense systems.