Epoxides aren't just found in glue and disinfectants (see here and here. They also occur occasionally in nature (not too often, since they're very strained, high-energy structures - this is why they're so reactive and useful). One such example is in JHB3, a "juvenile hormone" found in insects.
Juvenile hormones have several roles, one of which is regulating the development of juvenile insects. A relatively high level of juvenile hormone keeps insects in an immature state, allowing them to grow, but not achieve sexual maturity. Diminished levels of JH allow maturation to adulthood.
Interestingly, juvenile hormone is a drug target! Monday, I'll cover an insecticide based on it.
- Log in to post comments
More like this
Friday's entry was on juvenile hormone, an epoxide-containing species (as in epoxy, see here and here). Today, I'll show you an example of how we've used it to battle bugs.
Methoprene doesn't contain an epoxide (many of the juvenile hormones don't), but it's a good mimic for JH. In its presence,…
Males—now this might shock you—generally spend a lot of time and effort trying to convince females they're worth sleeping with. Whether it means building an ornate bower, shaking their tail feathers, or buying the biggest diamond ring, men put a lot of work into getting laid. And why do they go to…
tags: Ask a Science Blogger, male birth control pill, contraceptive
The human egg at the moment of fertilization.
Image: National Museum of Health and Medicine.
The newest "Ask a Science Blogger" question is; Why is there no birth control pill for men?
I know that many women say that male birth…
While we've been waiting and waiting for the physicists to get their act together and deliver on Mr Fusion home energy sources and flying cars, the biologists have been making great progress on the kinds of things that turn biologists on. The latest development: growing tiny little human brains in…
If you refer to methoprene (Altoside) note that pyriproxyfen (Nylar) is the good stuff.
http://www.alanwood.net/pesticides/pyriproxyfen.html
http://www.alanwood.net/pesticides/class_insecticides.html#juvenile_hor…
http://householdproducts.nlm.nih.gov/cgi-bin/household/brands?tbl=chem&…