DIMBOA is a naturally occurring hydroxamic acid

Hydroxamic acid

A hydroxamic acid is a class of chemical compounds sharing the same functional group in which an hydroxylamine is inserted into a carboxylic acid. Its general structure is R-CO-NH-OH, with an R as an organic residue, a CO as a carbonyl group, and a hydroxylamine as NH2-OH. They are used as metal...

, a benzoxazinoid. DIMBOA is a powerful antibiotic

Antibiotic

An antibacterial is a compound or substance that kills or slows down the growth of bacteria.The term is often used synonymously with the term antibiotic; today, however, with increased knowledge of the causative agents of various infectious diseases, antibiotic has come to denote a broader range of...

 present in maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

 and related grass

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

es, particularly wheat

Wheat

Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...

 and serves as a natural defense against a wide range of pests including insects, pathogenic fungi and bacteria.

In maize DIMBOA functions as natural defense against European corn borer

European Corn Borer

The European corn borer , also known as the European high-flyer, is a pest of grain, particularly maize. The insect is native to Europe, originally infesting varieties of millet, including broom corn. The European corn borer was first reported in North America in 1917 in Massachusetts, but was...

 larvae and many other damaging pests. The exact level of DIMBOA varies between individual plants but higher concentrations are typically found in young seedling

Seedling

thumb|Monocot and dicot seedlingsA seedling is a young plant sporophyte developing out of a plant embryo from a seed. Seedling development starts with germination of the seed. A typical young seedling consists of three main parts: the radicle , the hypocotyl , and the cotyledons...

s and the concentration decreases as the plant ages.