The role of photoswitching molecules in Chemical Sensitivities

Photoswitch molecules, like azobenzene, can change their structural geometry and chemical properties upon irradiation with electromagnetic radiation.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photoswitch

I previously wrote about my discovery that sometimes, when I shine UV light on unsafe food (i.e. food that triggers Chemical Sensitivity reactions), the food becomes safe.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MHMCS/comments/1jt5iqf/a_brief_look_at_how_the_chemically_sensitive_have/

What I didn't mention is I accidentally used the wrong flashlight, and discovered visible light could do the opposite and make safe food unsafe. This process was reversible. UV light made food safe. Visible light made food unsafe.

I get a lot of grief when I tell the chemically sensitive that different wavelengths of visible and UV light might alter the safety of their food, but photoswitch molecules work explain this phenomenon.

Take azobenzene for example. Azobenzene consists of two phenyl rings connected by a nitrogen to nitrogen bond. When exposed to UV light, the N-N bond rotates into a V-shaped cis-azobenzene molecule. Heat and visible light will rotate cis-azobenzene into the linear trans-azobenzene. I know that sounds complicated, but the picture in wikipedia says a thousand words.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Azobenzene

While azobenzene, and other photoswitch molecules, explains how UV light might fix food, I never had a good reason why photoswitch molecules are in food. Nor did I have an explanation why any particular photoswitch molecule could switch food between safe and unsafe states.

Then I discovered these two papers titled, Controlling the activity of quorum sensing autoinducers with light, and Genetically Encoding Photoswitchable Click Amino Acids in Escherichia coli and Mammalian Cells:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5659144/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4051619

Researchers have genetically engineered E. coli to produce a whole bunch of different photoswitch molecules. One such group of researchers attached azobenzene to a quorum sensing ACL autoinducer. Such a molecule could make the behavior of microbes change with changes in the frequency of ambient light.

But does this really explain fixing food with UV light? Well, the frequencies of the photoswitchable auto-inducer in the second paper above are the same as the frequencies I use to fix and unfix my food. Equally telling are the publications dates of the research papers. They were published in 2014 and 2015. I first encountered food that needed to be fixed with UV light in 2016-2017.

I wonder if their little genetically engineered E. coli got out of the lab. Now we are all forced to munch down on food contaminated with weird photoswitch molecules at every meal.