Scientists have given the actor’s name to a molecule as deadly as his John Wick character. But it’s for a good cause: it’s a natural anti-microbial product designed to fight a parasitic fungus.
After a frog discovered in 2012 and named Dear James Cameron, in tribute to James Cameron to salute his commitment to biodiversity; a spider bearing the name of Harrison Ford, a beetle bearing that of Arnold Schwarzenegger, to cite only this very small handful of examples, it is now necessary to add the name of Keanu Reeves to this naturalistic painting.
On what then? A plant ? An insect ? Not really. In the Journal of the American Chemical SocietyGerman scientists have published on January 20 a study in which they announce that they have developed an ultra-effective natural anti-microbial product, which fights with great virulence a parasitic fungus that attacks plants and is also the cause of disease in humans.
A serious research therefore, which does not prevent these scientists from being a little facetious and in any case moviegoers: they have thus baptized this formidable molecule “Keanumycin”. Why this name anyway? Because “he too is extremely deadly in his roles”.
A bacterial and non-chemical product, this Keanumycin therefore attacks a parasitic fungus, the Botrytis cinerea, which wreaks havoc on crops, especially strawberries. If this Botrytis is capable of producing what is called “noble rot” on the grapes that will be used to make Sauterne, it can also be a plague, responsible for the contamination of more than 200 species of fruits and vegetables. What’s more, this mushroom has, over the years, developed a great resistance to 100% chemical pesticides.
Keanu Reeves therefore has his double agent, guaranteed 100% organic, and as deadly as his John Wick, and it’s still high class. It is not known if the discovery and the baptismal name of this killer molecule went up to the ears of the actor.
