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What Is Phenylthiocarbamide?

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PTC is an organosulfur chemical which stands for Phenylthiocarabamide also known as Phenylthiourea(Wallace,2013). PTC is commonly used for inhibiting melanin in zebra-fish embryos, and it is also used for growing transparent fishes(Li,2012). However it is also used as a genetic marker which is where the phenomena with PTC originates(Wooding,2013). PTC is a chemical that has a bitter taste, but not every individual has the ability to taste its bitterness because to others PTC is completely tasteless. The ability to taste phenylthiocarbamide is believed by some to be an ancestral trait from chimps where tasting a PTC compound was used to avoid toxic plants, and then over the years it evolved in humans(Bamshad,2014). Depending on the specific experiment on average 3 out of 4 people have the ability to tastePTC(Bamshad,2014). PTC was discovered in 1931 by Arthur fox who was an organic chemist
(Wooding,2013). Arthur fox during an experiment accidentally released PTC powder in the air, and his colleague on the other side of his lab complained about a bitter taste. Arthur could not comprehend what his colleague was complaining about because he did not taste anything. Later they realized that the bitter taste came from the PTC powder he released into the air. After this realization Arthur did various experiment where his family had different sensitivity to the PTC(Wooding,2013). Over years of research it was determined that the ability to taste Phenylthiocarbamide is an

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