Garlic compound suppresses fly fertility

A Cell paper from a Yale team shows diallyl disulfide (a sulfurous breakdown product of crushed garlic) activates the TrpA1 chemoreceptor in flies and blocks copulation and egg‑laying in fruit flies and in tested disease vectors such as tsetse flies and mosquitoes. The effect is mechanistic (receptor activation → gene expression changes) and was demonstrated across species in lab assays. — If translatable in the field, inexpensive garlic‑derived compounds could offer a low‑toxicity, behavior‑modifying tool for vector control, affecting disease transmission, agricultural pest management, and regulatory choices about insecticides.