What If You Taste The DNA?

Each strand of our DNA has a Phosphate-sugar backbone. The sugar our DNA carries is deoxyribose which is a modified form of ribose sugar. Ribose is originally a natural sugar which tastes sweet. But does your DNA taste sweet if it contains deoxyribose? Or if it is a deoxyribonucleic ACID, does it taste sour like other acids? 

Our tongue carries millions of taste receptors. Perception of taste depends on how certain molecules bind with our taste receptors. The binding is usually hydrogen bonding where certain sites of a molecule bind with our receptors. Hydrogen bonds that form between sugar and nearby receptors help us to determine the level of sweetness. Sugars are thought to owe their sweet taste to the particular pattern of bonds that atoms in sugar molecules form with receptor proteins in taste buds. The molecular structure of a sugar should be oriented such a way that it should fit and bind with our receptors with strong hydrogen bonds. Plus the DNA is way too long polymeric molecule to bind with our receptors to impart any such A research says that strength of hydrogen bonds is related to the level of sweetness we feel. Deoxyribose sugar lacks a hydroxide group, so it doesn't fit in our taste receptors and doesn't taste sweet when tasted. Instead the people who have tried to taste the DNA isolated from fruits like strawberry(using food grade reagents) tell that the DNA tasted a bit salty and slimy as long as they held it on their tongue. The DNA tasted salty most likely because of the counter-ions (mainly sodium and potassium for most biological samples) that neutralize the charge of the phosphate backbone. Otherwise it'd have tasted sour like most acids. Acids taste sour because of the hydrogen protons they release. Hydrogen ions released by acids directly enter taste cells on your tongue and trigger an electrical signal to the brain. So overall, it's better to eat strawberry DNA along with the strawberry itself. 

It is STRICTLY not adviced to try tasting the isolated DNA, because the reagents used in isolation-if are not food grade-can cause TOXIC effects on you. In fact, it is adviced not to taste any laboratory stuff at all!

Further Reading: 

(Hit the Title to redirect to link)

Meet the guy who actually TASTED DNA!

How Does Our Sense of Taste Work?

Taste buds: cells, signals and synapses

Hydrogen Bond Length as a Key To Understanding Sweetness

Aditya Anil Kadam,

Vice-president,

Microbiol Association of Microbiology,

Department of Microbiology,

Rajarshi Shahu Mahavidyalaya (Autonomous) Latur.