A Greener Pesticide – alkaloids

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In the 1940s and ’50s, farmers had been spraying DDT and heavy metals like lead and arsenic on their orchards. Since these sprays have been banned, there has been a trend towards an ever-greener pest management. It is thought that pure alkaloids have the power to defend against bugs and a few herbivores yet is innocent to people. In nature, the alkaloids are produced by parasitic fungi on grasses. Both the grass and fungi have advanced a symbiotic relationship: The fungus takes vitamins from its grass host and the fungus produces alkaloid molecules which are poisonous to the bugs that need to eat it. Scientists have to determine if the alkaloids are unhazardous to people in bigger doses. Alkaloids are molecules that include nitrogen. They’re naturally occurring chemical compounds produced by all kinds of organisms, from microorganism to crops to animals. Alkaloid produces such as caffeine can be found in espresso, chocolate and tobacco. Plants such as ryes and fescues with their fungi produce caffeine and nicotine that is poisonous to many hungry pests. Alkaloids are found in prescription drugs — quinine to deal with malaria, morphine to deal with ache, penicillin and tetracycline to deal with an infection, and omacetaxine mepesuccinate to deal with leukemia. In fact, 95 % of the Prime 200 most-prescribed medicines on the earth are alkaloids.

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