For example , luciferin , a compound responsible for the bioluminescence of some living beings , such as fireflies; or draculin , an anticoagulant protein found in vampire bat saliva and is made up of 411 amino acids. Putrescine and cadaverine make it very clear where we can find them, as does vomycin , the source of strychnine and the emetic of the same name.
More cool is domperidone , which has little to do with champagne and more as a substance to cause milk production in lactating women . And among other peculiar names we have the funny little furfuryl furfarate , the heavenly angelic acid and archangelicin , the edible thebacon , the “political” sarcosine and clintoniosin or the sexual clitorine, erectone or SEX (official abbreviation of sodium ethyl xanthate; an overexposure to this compound causes vertigo, tremors, shortness of breath, blurred vision, headaches, vomiting and even death).
Even drawings have their molecules: there we have pikachurine, a name given by Japanese researchers in 2008 to a protein in honor of the well-known Pokémon . By the way, the gene with the name that has had the least life is related to this franchise. When, in January 2005, a gene responsible for the spread of cancer to surrounding cells was found in January 2005, the researchers named it Pokemon, after “POK Erythroid Myeloid ONtogenic factor” . But the company that owns the brand, Nintendo , did not agree to be associated with a gene related to cancer and threatened litigation and in December of that year changed its name to Zbtb7.
Image: Herky. Wikimedia.
