The Colorado potato beetle, a major pest of potato crops, displays conspicuous coloration to advertise their toxicity to predators, but the identity of the toxic compounds is unclear. Here, Kang et al. show that the insect releases toxic hydrogen cyanide, which results from the degradation of cyano-compounds produced by commensal bacteria.
- Wei-Nan Kang
- Yang Pan
- Guo-Qing Li
