The world is full of fascinating associations between insects and bacteria. Members of the bacterial phyla, actinomycetes, produce diverse chemical compounds that help protect insects from infection. Despite the fact that other secreted compounds can be toxic to insects, researchers had never identified a partnership where actinomycetes inflicted harm on an insect. That was until September 2020, when Dr. Justin Nodwell’s team published their fascinating discoveries on the toxic chemical interactions between Streptomyces and fruit flies.