Battling Blood-Feeding Insects, Weeds, and Hereditary Diseases with Inhibitors of a Common Enzyme

Abstract

Over the past 40 years, two very similar molecules, the herbicide mesotrione and the pharmaceutical nitisinone, have been found to kill weeds, treat the hereditary disease type I tyrosinemia, and kill blood-feeding insects, chronologically in that order. These two compounds effectively accomplish these seemingly diverse tasks by inhibiting the same enzyme, p-hydroxyphenylpyruvate dioxygenase (HPPD), in plants, humans, and insects. This is an example of the potential use of a chemical class for a wide range of biological uses linked by a common enzyme.