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Katemfe
''Thaumatococcus daniellii'', also known as miracle fruit or miracle berry, is a plant species from tropical Africa of the Marantaceae (arrowroot & prayer plant) family. It is a large, rhizomatous, flowering herb native to the rainforests of western Africa in Sierra Leone, southeast to Gabon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is also an introduced species in Australia and Singapore. The species is relevant in nutritional studies (similarly to its many edible and useful relatives, including arrowroot, bananas, cannas, cardamom, gingers and turmeric), as it is known for being the natural source of ''thaumatin'', an intensely-sweet protein. The protein is being tested in the creation of possible healthier sweeteners. When the fleshy part of the fruit is eaten, the thaumatin molecule binds to the tongue’s taste buds, triggering a “sweet” sensation that slowly builds, leaving a lingering aftertaste. ''T. daniellii'' grows 3-4m (up to 13’) in height, and has la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Thaumatin
Thaumatin (also known as talin) is a low-calorie sweetener and taste modifier. The protein is often used primarily for its flavor-modifying properties and not exclusively as a sweetener. The thaumatins were first found as a mixture of proteins isolated from the katemfe fruit ('' Thaumatococcus daniellii'') (Marantaceae) of West Africa. Although very sweet, thaumatin's taste is markedly different from sugar's. The sweetness of thaumatin builds very slowly. Perception lasts a long time, leaving a liquorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations. Thaumatin is highly water soluble, stable to heating, and stable under acidic conditions. Biological role Thaumatin production is induced in katemfe in response to an attack upon the plant by viroid pathogens. Several members of the thaumatin protein family display significant ''in vitro'' inhibition of hyphal growth and sporulation by various fungi. The thaumatin protein is considered a prototype for a pathogen-response protein doma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweetness
Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, and sugar alcohols. Some are sweet at very low concentrations, allowing their use as non-caloric sugar substitutes. Such non-sugar sweeteners include saccharin, aspartame, sucralose and stevia. Other compounds, such as miraculin, may alter perception of sweetness itself. The perceived intensity of sugars and high-potency sweeteners, such as aspartame and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, are heritable, with gene effect accounting for approximately 30% of the variation. The chemosensory basis for detecting sweetness, which varies between both individuals and species, has only begun to be understood since the late 20th century. One theoretical model of sweetness is the multipoint attachment theory, which involves multiple binding ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Joseph Bennett
John Joseph Bennett (8 January 1801 – 29 February 1876) was a British physician and botanist. He was the younger brother of the zoologist Edward Turner Bennett. Life and work Bennett was born in Tottenham and was educated in Enfield where his contemporaries included John Reeve. He then studied at the Middlesex Hospital and received his medical degree in 1825. Along with his brother he lived on Cavendish Square where they met and assisted John Edward Gray. A plant was named a ''Bennettia'' by Gray but it was found to be a synonym of '' Saussurea''. His brother was working on an edition of Gilbert White's book when he died and it had to be completed by John. He became an assistant to Robert Brown keeper of the Banksian herbarium and library at the British Museum from 1827 to 1858, when he succeeded Brown as Keeper of the Botanical Department. He was elected to the Linnean Society in 1828 and served as its secretary from 1840 to 1860. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Socie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musaceae
Musaceae is a family of flowering plants composed of three genera with about 91 known species, placed in the order Zingiberales. The family is native to the tropics of Africa and Asia. The plants have a large herbaceous growth habit with leaves with overlapping basal sheaths that form a pseudostem making some members appear to be woody trees. In most treatments, the family has three genera, ''Musa'', '' Musella'' and ''Ensete''. Cultivated bananas are commercially important members of the family, and many others are grown as ornamental plants. Taxonomy The family has been practically universally recognized by taxonomists, although with differing circumscriptions. Older circumscriptions of the family commonly included the genera now included in Heliconiaceae and Strelitziaceae. The APG III system, of 2009 (unchanged from the APG system, 1998), assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales in the clade commelinids in the monocots. The oldest fossil evidence of the family is though ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petiole (botany)
In botany, the petiole () is the stalk that attaches the leaf blade to the Plant stem, stem. It is able to twist the leaf to face the sun, producing a characteristic foliage arrangement (spacing of blades), and also optimizing its exposure to sunlight. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole in some species are called stipules. The terms wikt:petiolate, petiolate and wikt:apetiolate, apetiolate are applied respectively to leaves with and without petioles. Description The petiole is a stalk that attaches a leaf to the plant stem. In petiolate leaves the leaf stalk may be long (as in the leaves of celery and rhubarb), or short (for example basil). When completely absent, the blade attaches directly to the stem and is said to be Sessility (botany), sessile or apetiolate. Subpetiolate leaves have an extremely short petiole, and may appear sessile. The broomrape family Orobanchaceae is an example of a family in which the leaves are always sessile. In some other plant group ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aril
An aril (), also called arillus, is a specialized outgrowth from a seed that partly or completely covers the seed. An arillode, or false aril, is sometimes distinguished: whereas an aril grows from the attachment point of the seed to the ovary (botany), ovary (from the Ovule, funiculus or ''Hilum (biology), hilum''), an arillode forms from a different point on the seed coat. The term "aril" is sometimes applied to any fleshy appendage of the seed in flowering plants, such as the mace (spice), mace of the nutmeg seed. Arils and arillodes are often edible enticements that encourage animals to transport the seed, thereby assisting in seed dispersal. Pseudarils are aril-like structures commonly found on the Pyrena, pyrenes of Burseraceae species that develop from the mesocarp of the ovary. The fleshy, edible pericarp splits neatly in two halves, then falling away or being eaten to reveal a brightly coloured pseudaril around the black seed. The aril may create a fruit-like structu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taste Buds
Taste buds are clusters of taste receptor cells, which are also known as gustatory cells. The taste receptors are located around the small structures known as papillae found on the upper surface of the tongue, soft palate, upper esophagus, the cheek, and epiglottis. These structures are involved in detecting the five elements of taste perception: saltiness, sourness, bitterness, sweetness and savoriness (umami). A popular assumption assigns these different tastes to different regions of the tongue; in actuality, these tastes can be detected by any area of the tongue. Via small openings in the tongue epithelium, called taste pores, parts of the food dissolved in saliva come into contact with the taste receptors. These are located on top of the taste receptor cells that constitute the taste buds. The taste receptor cells send information detected by clusters of various receptors and ion channels to the gustatory areas of the brain via the seventh, ninth and tenth cranial ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tongue
The tongue is a Muscle, muscular organ (anatomy), organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It manipulates food for chewing and swallowing as part of the digestive system, digestive process, and is the primary organ of taste. The tongue's upper surface (dorsum) is covered by taste buds housed in numerous lingual papillae. It is sensitive and kept moist by saliva and is richly supplied with nerves and blood vessels. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning the teeth. A major function of the tongue is to enable speech in humans and animal communication, vocalization in other animals. The human tongue is divided into two parts, an oral cavity, oral part at the front and a pharynx, pharyngeal part at the back. The left and right sides are also separated along most of its length by a vertical section of connective tissue, fibrous tissue (the lingual septum) that results in a groove, the median sulcus, on the tongue's surface. There are two groups of glossal muscles. The f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Molecule
A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemistry, and biochemistry, the distinction from ions is dropped and ''molecule'' is often used when referring to polyatomic ions. A molecule may be homonuclear, that is, it consists of atoms of one chemical element, e.g. two atoms in the oxygen molecule (O2); or it may be heteronuclear, a chemical compound composed of more than one element, e.g. water (molecule), water (two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom; H2O). In the kinetic theory of gases, the term ''molecule'' is often used for any gaseous particle regardless of its composition. This relaxes the requirement that a molecule contains two or more atoms, since the noble gases are individual atoms. Atoms and complexes connected by non-covalent interactions, such as hydrogen bonds or ionic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sweetener
A sweetener is a substance added to food or drink to impart the flavor of sweetness, either because it contains a type of sugar, or because it contains a sweet-tasting sugar substitute. Various natural non-sugar sweeteners (NSS) and artificial sweeteners are used to produce food and drink. List of sweeteners Many artificial sweeteners have been invented and are now used in commercially produced food and drink. Natural non-sugar sweeteners also exist, such as glycyrrhizin found in liquorice. * Sugar ** Sugar alcohol ** Sucrose, or glucose-fructose, commonly called ''table sugar'' *** Fructose, or ''fruit sugar'' *** Glucose, or dextrose * Sugar substitute, including ''artificial sweetener'' * Syrups ** Agave syrup, or ''agave nectar'' ** Maple syrup ** Corn syrup *** High-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), used industrially * Honey * Molasses * Dates * Glycyrrhizin, found in liquorice Liquorice ( Commonwealth English) or licorice (American English; see spelling differences ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, Cell signaling, responding to stimuli, providing Cytoskeleton, structure to cells and Fibrous protein, organisms, and Intracellular transport, transporting molecules from one location to another. Proteins differ from one another primarily in their sequence of amino acids, which is dictated by the Nucleic acid sequence, nucleotide sequence of their genes, and which usually results in protein folding into a specific Protein structure, 3D structure that determines its activity. A linear chain of amino acid residues is called a polypeptide. A protein contains at least one long polypeptide. Short polypeptides, containing less than 20–30 residues, are rarely considered to be proteins and are commonly called pep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Curcuma
''Curcuma'' () is a genus of plants in the ginger family Zingiberaceae that contains such species as turmeric and Siam tulip. They are native to Southeast Asia, southern China, the Indian Subcontinent, New Guinea and northern Australia. Some species are reportedly naturalized in other warm parts of the world such as tropical Africa, Central America, Florida, and various islands of the Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Generally, most curcuma grows well in loose and sandy soil in shaded areas. Botanical description Curcuma is a perennial, herbaceous plant that can reach a height of 1 meter. It emits numerous, edible rhizomes whose interiors are yellow or orange. These rhizomes are reduced to a powder, which is the spice called curcuma. Its lanceolate leaves are oblong or elliptical and are of a uniform green, and about 50cm long and 7 to 25 cm wide. Uses The name is derived from the Sanskrit ''kuṅkuma'', referring to turmeric. Turmeric is used to flavour or colour curry ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
