Comparison of the effects of concentration, pH and anion species on astringency and sourness of organic acids

The separate effects of concentration, pH and anion species on intensity of sourness and astringency of organic acids were evaluated. Judges rated sourness and astringency intensity of lactic, malic, tartaric and citric acid solutions at three levels of constant pH varying in normality and at three levels of constant concentration varying in pH. To assess the comparative sourness and astringency of the organic acid anions of study, binary acid solutions matched in pH and titratable acidity were also rated. As pH was decreased in equinormal solutions, both sourness and astringency increased significantly (P < 0.001). By contrast, as the normality of the equi-pH solutions was increased, only sourness demonstrated significant increases (P < 0.001) while astringency remained constant or decreased slightly. At the lowest normality tested, all solutions were more astringent than sour (P < 0.05). Although lactic acid was found to be significantly more sour than citric acid (P < 0.05), no other sourness or astringency differences among the organic acid anions were noted. This study demonstrates for the first time that astringency elicited by acids is a function of pH and not concentration or anion species, and confirms that sourness is independently influenced by concentration, pH and anion species of the acid.      

Cytokinin-to-Auxin Ratios and Morphology of Shoots and Tissues Transformed by a Chimeric Isopentenyl Transferase Gene

Tissues transformed with the isopentenyl transferase (ipt) gene cloned from the T-DNA region of the Ti plasmid or with the ipt gene placed under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (35S-ipt) were analyzed for auxin and cytokinin. Free and total indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) levels in 35S-ipt-transformed Nicotiana tabacum and cucumber cells were reduced by 12 to 78% in comparison to untransformed tissues. In contrast, free IAA concentrations in 35S-ipt-transformed Nicotiana plumbaginifolia were almost three times those of untransformed tissues, while total IAA levels were not significantly affected. Cytokinin levels in these antibodies were elevated an average of 300-fold resulting in a 24- to over 2000-fold increase in the cytokinin-to-auxin ratios. High cytokinin-to-auxin ratios correlated with the shooty phenotype of transformed tissues propagated in vitro in the absence of added growth hormones. We conclude that increased endogenous cytokinin-to-auxin ratios can induce cells to undergo morphogenesis and that elevated cytokinin levels can also induce auxin-autonomous growth of transformed tissues without causing a corresponding increase in endogenous IAA levels.