Mechanisms behind different metabolisms for regular and synthetic food
In this world I'm building, a bunch of previously inactive genes in humans have started expressing, and changed newborns' metabolic system dramatically.
As a result, a portion of population cannot digest regular food, but can eat synthetic food (let's call this population Type S, as opposed to Type R, regular humans). For clarity, regular food can be of plant or animal origin, and synthetic food can only be produced in lab-like settings.
The world's population is now divided into two groups, with their food sources not overlapping. The proportion of Type S and Type N people in population change gradually.
- What kind of chemistry and biology can be behind this?
- How can synthetic food differ chemically, so Type S human body can feel the difference? And how can it be so different, Type R humans are unable to digest it?
- What are the raw materials for this synthetic food?
This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/18791. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Instead of thinking about how the body changes, I propose you think about how the food might change.
In your world, there could have been a cataclysmic event that removed digestive enzymes from existence (what event that might be is the subject of another question...). This means that humans can no longer digest things because the enzymes that usually do it are nonexistent.
The synthesised food, then, can be seeded with digestive enzymes in it. It would have to be eaten rather quickly to avoid the enzymes dying off, but it could be done.
Alternatively, if you're fixed on a biological difference, you can simply have a group of humans who weren't affected by the cataclysm - perhaps they were in bunkers, or out colonising Mars when the cataclysm happened. Your type S humans would be those who were affected, and have to have their food seeded with enzymes, and the type R is those who weren't and can digest normally.
Enzyme-seeded food could damage the type R humans by giving them stomach ulcers through a digestive overload - having too many digestive enzymes is a bad thing because they starts to digest your stomach lining and cause ulcers.
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