Benomyl

Benomyl (also marketed as Benlate) is a fungicide introduced in 1968 by DuPont. It is a systemic benzimidazole fungicide that is selectively toxic to microorganisms and invertebrates, especially earthworms, but nontoxic toward mammals.Benomyl is of low toxicity to mammals. It has an arbitrary LD50 of 'greater than 10,000 mg/kg/day for rats'. Skin irritation may occur through industrial exposure, and florists, mushroom pickers and floriculturists have reported allergic reactions to benomyl.Benomyl binds strongly to soil and does not dissolve in water to any great extent. It has a half-life in turf of three to six months, and in bare soil, a half-life of six months to one year.Benomyl is used in molecular biology to study the cell cycle in yeast; in fact, the name of the protein class 'Bub' (Bub1, etc.) comes from their mutant in which budding was uninhibited by benomyl. Benomyl acts by depolymerizing microtubules. Benomyl is also useful in the laboratory because it is selectively toxic to most members of the Ascomycota, whereas members of the Basidiomycota are largely resistant.