Page 125 - Miracles Within the Molecule

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This, as you have already seen with regard to taste per cep tion, is a kind
of lock-and-key sys tem. For per cep tion to take place, the two shapes
have to be com plete ly com pat i ble. The key must fit the lock, for the two
mol e cu les to clamp togeth er. If a mol e cule is flex i ble, it may fit more
than one region, and a con fused sit u a tion aris es in which odors may
resem ble one anoth er. Or from a sin gle aroma, we may form an image
in our minds of more than one object. The scent of a flow er reach es our
nose, but we may also think it resem bles a per fume or a fruit.
In order for a scent to be per ceived, its mol e cu les must be both air -
borne—in order to reach the nasal epi the li um—and sol u ble in water.
Being sol u ble, they can dis solve in the mucus released by cells in the
nasal epi the li um. If the mol e cule does not dis solve in the mucus, how e -
ver, then organ ic mol e cu les in the mucus flush the insol u ble mol e cu les
to other spe cial ly charged regions, where the mol e cu les may com bine
with a rel e vant pro tein. 57 In this way, per cep tion of the same scent aris -
es. This spe cial pre cau tion takes into account the pos si bil i ty that scent
mol e cu les may not be water-sol u ble. Either way, the brain per ceives the
arriv ing scent mol e cu les.
Smells dif fer from one anoth er accord ing to the pro tein struc tures
to which these scent mol e cu les bond. When you smell a rose, you are
una ware that mol e cu les and pro teins in your nose are com pat i ble with
one anoth er and are engaged in chem i cal activ i ty. Yet the scent that
reach es you from the rose always forms bonds with the same type of
pro teins, which is why you imme di ate ly recog nize a rose's smell, even
if you can not see or touch it. Scents from a rose never bond to a dif fer -
ent pro tein in your nose to awak en the mem o ry of a straw ber ry. You can
never make such an error, because this molec u lar struc ture oper ates
flaw less ly. By means of the impec ca ble sys tem here, you can detect not
just the dif fer ence between two smells, but to dis tin guish between the
count less scent mol e cu les on Earth, wheth er they are famil iar to you or
not.

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