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Team:Harvard/flavor
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Revision as of 19:36, 26 October 2010 by Mtheilmann (Talk | contribs)
abstract
As flavor and scent are the senses directly associated with food, they help to shape one's attitude towards specific fruits and vegetables. If the smell or flavor of an undesirable but healthy food can be altered, perhaps we can create a nutritious food that more people will want to eat! To approach this problem, the Flavor sub-team chose to express novel proteins and pathways in Arabidopsis that would change the plant's taste and smell. Obviously Arabidopsis is not a commonly consumed food, but the project serves as proof that our goals are workable. The team chose to focus on two proteins that alter taste - Miraculin and Brazzein - and three pathways that alter scent - valencene (orange/citrus), wintergreen (mint) and banana.
