Rotting fruits
Rotting fruits and How to clean fruits and vegetables in the time of virus pandemic
The fungi prefer to occupy organisms with high sugar content and therefore fruits are ideal surfaces for them to grow and reach all development stages. To begin with, understanding of fungi as unicellular creatures is essential because most of the people assume that fungi are visible and in macro forms (although some of them are:), the majority are still microscopic creatures and prefer simple environments which can be altered towards their necessities. After finding selves on these fruits, fungi will try to change pH values of the fruit. Rotting is a common term; this is happening right after the fungi have successfully manipulated environmental for their own needs. In this process, fungi release acids.
When fruits are being consumed and reach the digestive system, a healthy environment will not allow a change in acidity but if it is compromised, it will affect all the other communities living in the digestive system (bacterial). “The produced acids not only acidify the tissues but can also lower the activity of reactive oxygen species produced by the host [17]. (Chen C, Dickman MB. Proline suppresses apoptosis in the fungal pathogen Colletotrichum trifolii. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2005) “Fusaric acid produced by Fusarium oxysporum acidifies plant surfaces and activates the membrane H+-ATPase, a pH-regulated process that leads to the expression of proteases and subsequent tissue invasion”(Brandao RL, Castro IM, Passos JB, Nicoli JR, Thevelein JM. Glucose-induced activation of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase in Fusarium oxysporum. J Gen Microbiol. 1992;).
Understanding of rotting helped us preview microbe activity and behavior of specific microbial hosts for viruses. For example, a common problem caused by one sort of Candida represented microbial activity. “The human pathogen Candida albicans acidifies the environment in a carbohydrate-dependent fashion, allowing the production of aspartyl proteases, which are potent virulence factors” (Naglik JR, Challacombe SJ, Hube B. Candida albicans secreted aspartyl proteinases in virulence and pathogenesis. Microbiol Mol Biol Rev. 2003).
In the time of the viral pandemic, knowing basic microbial development stages and behaviors can help us prevent infections and stay protected. Fruits and vegetables washed in warm water seems as not enough of protection but rather leaving them in the solution of water and some bicarbonate of soda. To lower pH value artificially and keep fungi and other microbial from development, all that we need is this solution.
