CATS LOVE IT BUT MOZZIES DON’T

Scientists reveal why catnip is a potent insect repellent. Scientists have used cultured cells expressing the TRPA1 (transient receptor potential ankyrin 1) genes – a molecular mechanism for “pain” and response to irritants discovered in flies, mozzies and humans – to test if they are activated by catnip and its active ingredient nepetalactone, according to a study published in the journal Current Biology.

The protein is known as the “wasabi receptor”

(the eye-watering sensation caused by eating the Japanese horseradish), but although humans and other animals have it, catnip doesn’t affect us in the same way. The team also tested catnip on mutant mosquitoes and flies without the TRPA1 receptor and found they lost their aversion to the herb.