Why Are Some Fiuts Sweet and Some Sour

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Dillon Murray 11-19-2012 Intro to Biology 1. Why are some fruits sweet and some sour, whereas other have no specific taste? Taste is the sensory modality that guides organisms to identify and consume nutrients while avoiding toxins and indigestible materials. For humans, this means recognizing and distinguishing sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—the so-called “basic” tastes. It all depends on the chemistry of the fruits, fruits contain different levels of fructose and glucose which will affects their sweetness. They also contain different levels of acids such as vitamin c/ascorbic acid and citric acid (in lemons and limes) which will determine how sour the fruit is. Actually, the taste of a fruit depends on the compounds present in it. Normally a fruit contains the materials like cellulose, proteins, starch, vitamins, certain acids, fructose or sugar. All these materials are found in mixed form inside the fruit and they have different proportions in different fruits. Fruits of sweet taste have more fructose in them whereas the fruits of sour taste have more acids in them. Some fruits are sweet as well as sour in taste like orange, as it has almost equal quantities of fructose and acids in it.( htp/jcb.rupress)Normally, the raw fruits have more acids but on ripening the quantity of acids get decreases and the amount of sugar gets increase. This is the reason that raw mangoes are sour in taste but on ripening they become sweet. Raw bananas have more starch but when the fruit gets ripen, the starch gets converted into fructose. The chemical changes take place inside the fruit during the process of ripening, due to these changes the amount of sugar increases in fruit and it becomes sweet. 2. How does the ripening of fruit affect the process of seed dispersal? The ripening of fruit organs represents the terminal stage of development in which the matured
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