Here's a title: Plant growth versus defence: Why do many (crop) plants invest in cyanide?

I will talk about the need for a shift in the paradigm where investment in defence and growth are seen as alternatives, to being synergistic. Focussing on cyanogenic glucosides, I propose that defence chemicals may have multiple roles in the plant and evolved for purposes such as managing stress and resources. This may explain why humans have a fatal attraction to growing plants that are cyanogenic. The talk will be illustrated using data from plant ecophysiology experiments on sorghum and cassava, RNAseq analysis and new work comparing the cyanide levels in domesticated sorghum and its Australian wild relatives.