Indole is a scent molecule produced by corn and detected by both caterpillars and wasps. [Image credit: Nancy R. Gough, BioSerendipity, LLC, wasp designed by Smashicons from Flaticon, corn and caterpillar from PowerPoint icon set ]

Chemical Defenses: Scent-Based Communication between Moths, Wasps, and Corn

Corn defense scent molecules protect caterpillars from wasps.

In nature, some insects eat plants and other insects lay eggs inside the plant-eating insects, creating a ‘tritrophic’ system. Researchers in Switzerland investigated how scent molecules, which are called volatile chemicals, affect one…