Cutting an onion breaks its cells and starts a sulfur-chemical chain: alliinase makes a precursor, and lachrymatory factor synthase (LFS) rearranges that precursor into the tear-inducing factor that reaches your eyes.1 A 2008 gene-silencing experiment reduced LFS activity by up to 1,544-fold and sharply lowered that tear-inducing factor in wounded onions.2 The 2012 reaction study identified onion LFS as an (E)-1-propenylsulfenic acid isomerase; the broader evolutionary purpose remains a separate question.1
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