Identify, engage, assassinate: How seahorse-like toxins kill insects

Researchers reveal the first-ever detailed structure of the bacterial toxin Mcf1: Useful for engineering novel biopesticides

02-Feb-2024 - Insect-killing bacteria typically release toxins to slay their hosts. The bacterium Photorhabdus luminescens, for example, pumps insect larvae full of the lethal ‘Makes caterpillars floppy 1’ (Mcf1) toxin, leading them to first become droopy and then dead. However, it has so far been a mystery ...