Beetles that taste like mustard

(Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology) Cruciferous plants use a sophisticated defense system, known as the mustard oil bomb, to get rid of their enemies: If plant tissues are wounded, glucosinolates and an enzyme known as myrosinase come into contact, and, as a result, toxic metabolites are formed which deter most insects. This mechanism, however, has no negative effect on flea beetles, according to scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena, Germany.