lecture 17 - signpost lecture

Question 1

Why are some chilli peppers hot and others not?

Answer 1

Chillies are pungent because of capsaicinoids, which are thought to have anti-microbial qualities
Capsaicinoid concentrations increase during fruit ripening, where they are likely to have their main function
There is a polymorphism for capsaicinoid production in wild populations of multiple chilli species
In polymorphic populations plants that produce fruits with capsaicinoids grow alongside plants that lack this chemical, but are nutritionally similar
Other natural populations have plants with high levels capsaicinoids, and other populations have low levels or plants without any capsaicinoids
This variation appears over a geographical gradient