Plant iron acquisition strategy exploited by an insect herbivore.

Insect herbivores depend on their host plants to acquire macro- and micronutrients. Here we asked how a specialist herbivore and damaging maize pest, the western corn rootworm, finds and accesses plant-derived micronutrients. We show that the root-feeding larvae use complexes between iron and benzoxazinoid secondary metabolites to identify maize as a host, to forage within the maize root system, and to increase their growth. Maize plants use these same benzoxazinoids for protection against generalist herbivores and, as shown here, for iron uptake. We identify an iron transporter that allows the corn rootworm to benefit from complexes between iron and benzoxazinoids. Thus, foraging for an essential plant-derived complex between a micronutrient and a secondary metabolite shapes the interaction between maize and a specialist herbivore.

Panhypopituitarism in a young drug abuser.

An intoxicated young man returned home from a drinking party and collapsed and died in his mother's presence. Three weeks earlier, he had been released from prison, having served a sentence for possession and sale of "street drugs". At the time of his release, he and his friends had gathered together for a celebration at which drugs were used. At the autopsy table, there was initial evidence of an intrasellar hemorrhage of recent onset with ablation of the adenohypophysis. At first the prosectors considered the case to be one of drug-induced pituitary "apoplexy". However, there was subsequent autopsy evidence of chronic panhypopituitarism. The intrasellar lesion proved to be a Rathke-cleft cyst of dysontogenetic origin, probably unrelated to drug abuse. This case is presented as an example of the increasing complexities encountered by the forensic pathologist in a world of increasing numbers of available toxic substances.