resistance to fungal pathogens. Many years later it was found to have oxalate oxidase activity generating 'antimicrobial' hydrogen peroxide from a substrate of the double-acid, oxalic acid, secreted by an invading fungus or other microbe. A reaction between oxalate and the calcium cation makes calcium oxalate, a type of 'kidney stone' in humans. Amazingly, oxalate is a metabolite of ascorbate (vitamin C), and it is worth emphasizing that ascorbate is a direct precursor of oxalate in plants. References Protein domains Protein superfamilies