Introduction
The human tongue has taste buds work alongside neuroepithithelial cells to detect the taste of anything thing put in the mouth. Fruits are common in the human diet, but each has its own unique taste. Some are sweet, others bitter-sweet, sour, while others neither contain any taste. The difference in such tastes among the fruits is attributed to the levels of sugars and acids. In addition, the chemical processes that determine the ripening of a fruit also contribute to the eventual taste that a fruit contains. The development of a fruit is responsible for other processes such as seed dispersal,
Question 1
Some fruits tend to be sweeter due to the presence of high fructose levels. This allows sugar components to be high, under which the sugar or glucose conversion process adds onto starch. Starch is responsible for converting into fructose in the ripening chemical processes. An example of such a fruit is the banana. Bitter, bitter-sweet and sour tastes of fruits are caused the chemical components present in the fruit. These components, cellulose, vitamins, proteins, starch and acids are usually mixed in different proportionalities, hence the sour taste. However, other fruits depict no taste. This is due to equal proportionality of acids and starch sugars, which when mixed, produces a neutral taste (McIntosh, 1855, pg 303).
Question 2
Fruit ripening is a determinant of the seed dispersal mechanism. The various modes of seed dispersal are wind, animals, water, and self-explosion. Seeds that end up being dispersed by animals are rendered edible and attractive to the animal. While undergoing the chemical process of ripening, enzymes involved convert the fruit components to produce color, scents or notable taste. Fruits dispersed by the mechanism of wind undergo fruit ripening that involves other processes of dehydration. This enables them to be light and dispersible by any speed of the wind. Self-explosion dispersion is for seeds that undergo drying and expansion while maturing. The expansion of a matured fruit bursts open, enabling the seeds to be scattered, hence being self-dispersed.
Question 3
Human beings consumption of grain and fruits interferes with the process of seed dispersal. Cultivation of various plants, such as the peas and fruits in large or small scale does not allow the plants to mature under ecological and environmental circumstances. These plants and fruits are matured in green houses and on maturity are collected for human consumption and sale. This eventually deters hormonal impact of fruit ripening and, therefore, the mode of seed dispersion. In addition, with consumption of fruits and grains, the seeds become part of the human digestive system. However, the human body does not contain the necessary enzymes responsible for digesting these seeds; hence they get out of the human system through excretion. The latter deposits seeds in sewerage systems, whereby seeds cannot be dispersed through their causative agents of seed dispersal (Simpson, 2012, p 533).
Question 4
Seeds undergo metabolism, but the energy is not got from the utilization of starch or fructose in fruits. Glucose, sucrose and maltose undergo chemical processes …