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Question:
Still not understanding levo-amino vs dextro-protein diet; what is each
and what does that mean quarians and turians eat Follow-up question in
regards to the answer; does that mean a Turian can eat chickens from
Palaven but not chickens from Earth?
Answer:
levo- and dextro- refer to the left- and right- handedness of
molecules respectively. This is called chirality in chemistry. You can
look this up if you like, but long story short, molecules which have
four different groups branching off of a single atom can take on two
forms, a right- handed and a left- handed form. It turns out (by
accident or so it seems) that humans and most life on earth are levo-,
and so all of our body chemistry is designed to handle levo- proteins as
food, and our immune systems manage levo- viruses and bacteria. A
dextro- animal would similarly be only evolved to do the same for its
handedness.
Recently, enzymes have been discovered in bacteria that can catalyze a
switch between levo and dextro molecules, so it is concievable that an
animal could evolve able to handle both, but this is unlikely in the
face of evolutionary forces.
What it means is that quarians and turians can eat the same foodstuffs
and have normal sexual (whatever that means) relationships because their
bodies can process those materials.
To elaborate further, humans can eat salarian foodstuffs or
krogans can eat human foodstuffs and still receive nourishment.
D-glucose on earth can be processed by our bodies, and we are able to
convert this material usefully. Likewise in opposite, L-glucose is
rather bitter and is modified chemically as table sweetener. (note:
bitter) So if you were to consume sugars native to a turian or quarian
homeworld, they most likely would be sweet-tasting. One way or another.
As far as dextro-organic material consumption, it would have
little or no effect on our bodies and would otherwise be flushed out
(e.g. not consumed). Same as such with turians or quarians. However, I
do think a compromise could be made by combining the two types of food
as a universal foodstuff. The same should apply towards interspecies
intercourse and ingestion.
This allergic reaction info is slightly overboard in the Mass
Effect universe. Unless the pH balance is hazardous, there shouldn't be
any serious problems.
So would those of you who have understanding of Dextro Vs Levo agree with, or call this an accurate assessment? If not, I would love an explanation. Thanks!
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