Rhodanese in insects.

Forty-four species of insects were assayed for the presence of rhodanese, an enzyme generally considered to be responsible for the detoxification of cyanide. Rhodanese was found to be widely distributed in both adults and larvae and was not restricted to those species which encounter exogenous cyanide through feeding on cyanogenic plants. These results indicate that cyanide detoxification is unlikely to be the primary role for rhodanese in insects.