News of a mosquito killing compound in some edible mushrooms has led researchers to develop a new bug killing agent.
Ageritin is a ribotoxin—i.e., it attacks ribosomes, the protein factories in the cells and it is highly toxic to the larvae of the yellow fever mosquito.
Researchers say it is a new type of such a fungal toxin—the first ribotoxin from an edible agaric mushroom.
Now, if they could just tweak it to combat indigneous flies, they might be on to a self-protecting mushroom crop - although growing Agrocybe aegerita is not on the cards, Stalker suspects.
