2023-06-11 16:40:34
A recent investigation has shown that a group of flies is able to avoid certain foods in order to live longer.
Humans distinguish the taste of food by taste, one of the 5 senses we have.
It is precisely in the receptors of the taste buds that we have in our mouths that we can different flavors and know if a fruit, vegetable, animal protein or dish is to our liking.
Smell, together with taste, are the senses in charge of detecting if a food is in good condition, even before being eaten.
As with us, animals have a developed sense of taste that limits their diet and, in some cases, makes their diet very strict.
This is how a group of scientists carried out work using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster), discovering a gene coded as CG12344, with which these organisms are capable of detecting the alkaline taste, distinguishing foods with a high pH, which are removed from their diet for a specific reason.
According to the new scientific study from the Moell Chemical Senses Center, you have managed to discover a sixth taste, that of alkaline pH. The investigation was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Metabolism.
In said work, this new flavor was identified thanks to the alkaliphile or Alka flavor receptor that fruit flies possess.
Thanks to the work of researchers from the Universities of California and Pennsylvania, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Monell Center for Chemical Senses (United States), a new flavor has been added to the list of already known ones: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami and alkaline (or basic).
Eating foods high in pH can be detrimental to human health and reduces the lifespan of fruit flies, but thanks to this research it is now known that these small dipterans are able to identify some foods that contain a pH high.
The group from the Monell Center, led by the scientist Yali Zhang, discovered that Alka is found in the taste receptor neurons of the fly. So when encountering neutral and alkaline foods, wild flies choose neutrals because of the toxicity of high pH, which shortens their lifespan.
Remembering that pH is a measure of alkalinity or acidity that indicates the concentration of hydrogen ions present in different foods, which plays a fundamental role for living organisms, having a strong participation in biological processes such as food decomposition and enzymatic reactions.
In conclusion, the more ions available, the more acidic it will be, and vice versa. In such a way that a high pH indicates if the substance is alkaline, while a low pH will inform us that it is acidic.
“Our work has settled the discussion about whether there is a taste for alkaline foods,” said Yali Zhang, a biochemist and lead author of the study.
For more information consult: Nature Metabolism
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