Biological Function
Myrosinase and its natural substrate, glucosinolate, are known to be part of the plant’s defense response. When the plant is attacked by pathogens, insects, or other herbivory, the plant uses myrosinase to convert glucosinolates, which are otherwise benign—into toxic products like isothiocyanates, thiocyanates, and nitriles.
Read more about this topic: Myrosinase
Famous quotes containing the words biological and/or function:
“No poetic phantasy
but a biological reality,
a fact: I am an entity
like bird, insect, plant
or sea-plant cell;
I live; I am alive.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“It is the function of vice to keep virtue within reasonable bounds.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)