Pineapples and Bromelain
A few months ago there was a discussion about the usefulness of
bromelain in pineapples and presumably other bromeliad fruits. People wondered why a plant would put a feeding deterrent like that in a fruit when it presumably "wants" the fruit to be eaten so that the seeds will be distributed. The best hypothesis was that the "desired" consumer was not affected by the bromelain. Well, yesterday I had the opportunity to eat a really ripe, some might say overripe, pineapple, and I'm here to tell you that this extremely sweet and juicy fruit had no apparent proteolytic effect on the mucous membranes of my mouth. So I hypothesize that like many other fruits, the feeding deterrent is no longer present at the time the seeds are ready for dispersal, and the "purpose" of bromelain is to keep animals from eating the fruit before maturity. I hope I don't sound like A.Plutonium.... |
Pineapples and Bromelain
Beverly Erlebacher schreef
Well, yesterday I had the opportunity to eat a really ripe, some might say overripe, pineapple, and I'm here to tell you that this extremely sweet and juicy fruit had no apparent proteolytic effect on the mucous membranes of my mouth. So I hypothesize that like many other fruits, the feeding deterrent is no longer present at the time the seeds are ready for dispersal, and the "purpose" of bromelain is to keep animals from eating the fruit before maturity. + + + As likely an explantion as any! PvR |
Pineapples and Bromelain
In article ,
P van Rijckevorsel wrote: Beverly Erlebacher schreef Well, yesterday I had the opportunity to eat a really ripe, some might say overripe, pineapple, and I'm here to tell you that this extremely sweet and juicy fruit had no apparent proteolytic effect on the mucous membranes of my mouth. So I hypothesize that like many other fruits, the feeding deterrent is no longer present at the time the seeds are ready for dispersal, and the "purpose" of bromelain is to keep animals from eating the fruit before maturity. + + + As likely an explantion as any! Hrmph! What's with this damning with faint praise? It's a likelier explanation than many, if not most! ;-) I dunno what the universe is composed of and I don't think A.Plutonium does either. |
Pineapples and Bromelain
Beverly Erlebacher schreef
Well, yesterday I had the opportunity to eat a really ripe, some might say overripe, pineapple, and I'm here to tell you that this extremely sweet and juicy fruit had no apparent proteolytic effect on the mucous membranes of my mouth. So I hypothesize that like many other fruits, the feeding deterrent is no longer present at the time the seeds are ready for dispersal, and the "purpose" of bromelain is to keep animals from eating the fruit before maturity. P van Rijckevorsel wrote: As likely an explanation as any! Beverly Erlebacher schreef Hrmph! What's with this damning with faint praise? It's a likelier explanation than many, if not most! ;-) I dunno what the universe is composed of and I don't think A.Plutonium does either. + + + Allright, if you are so sensitive about it, let's modify this to: "Best explanation yet!" which is not saying a lot more but sounds better ;-) The important thing in such cases is not the hypothesis, which are relatively easy to think up, but in the gathering of hard empirical data. You certainly provided a bit of hard data! Still there remains an element of uncertainty in a plant with such a long history of cultivation. The other day somebody who should have known better came up with a story about the 'evolutionary importance of the fact that unlike the rest of the plant the potatoe itself is not poisonous unlike the rest of the plant'. PvR PS: There appears to be insufficient data about what the universe is composed of. The only thing that seems certain is that research into it is quite expensive. |
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