Monellin
Monellin, a sweet protein, was discovered in 1969 in the fruit of the West African shrub known as serendipity berry ('' Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii''); it was first reported as a carbohydrate.GE Inglett, JF May. Serendipity berries - Source of a new intense sweetener. J Food Sci 1969, 34:408-411. The protein was named in 1972 after the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, U.S.A., where it was isolated and characterized. Protein composition Monellin's molecular weight is 10.7 kDa. It has two noncovalently associated polypeptide chains: an A chain sequence with 44 amino acid residues, and a B chain with 50 residues. Monellin chain A (44 AA): Monellin chain B (50 AA): Amino acid sequence of the sweet protein monellin adapted from Swiss-Prot biological database of protein. Monellin has a secondary structure consisting of five beta-strands that form an antiparallel beta-sheet and a 17-residue alpha-helix. In its natural form, monellin is composed of the two chains ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Monell Chemical Senses Center
The Monell Chemical Senses Center is an independent, non-profit scientific research institute located at the University City Science Center campus in Philadelphia. Founded in 1968, it is dedicated to interdisciplinary basic research on the senses of taste and smell. The center's mission is to improve health and well-being by advancing the scientific understanding of taste, smell, and related senses. Monell's research focuses on various aspects of chemosensory science, including how chemical senses affect human health, behavior, and the environment. The center employs a collaborative and interdisciplinary approach, with scientists from diverse fields such as sensory psychology, biophysics, chemistry, behavioral neuroscience, environmental science, and genetics working together on research projects. As of 2024, Monell scientists have produced over 2,000 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, published in a wide range of high-impact research, biomedical, and clinical jo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sugar Substitutes
A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders and packets. Common sugar substitutes include aspartame, monk fruit extract, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, acesulfame potassium (ace-K) and cyclamate. These sweeteners are a fundamental ingredient in diet drinks to sweeten them without adding calories. Additionally, sugar alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol are derived from sugars. No links have been found between approved artificial sweeteners and cancer in humans. Reviews and dietetic professionals have concluded that moderate use of non-nutritive sweeteners as a safe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pentadin
Pentadin, a sweet-tasting protein, was discovered and isolated in 1989 from the fruit of oubli ('' Pentadiplandra brazzeana'' ), a climbing shrub growing in some tropical countries of Africa. '' Pentadiplandra brazzeana'' berry consists of a red pericarp with seeds and flesh containing sweet tasting proteins that can be extracted for production of a sugar substitute. History Pentadin (discovered in 1989) and brazzein (discovered in 1994) are the two names proposed for the sweet-tasting protein(s) isolated via two different methods from the same African fruit, '' Pentadiplandra brazzeana''. The corresponding author of both these publications has later opined that pentadin and brazzein are two different names for the same protein. Even though pentadin is the earlier proposed name, brazzein is the more commonly used name after more extensive characterisation of the sweet protein. Description Sweet tasting proteins have been known to exist for many years and indigenous people have ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Miraculin
Miraculin is a taste modifier, a glycoprotein extracted from the fruit of '' Synsepalum dulcificum''. The berry, also known as the miracle fruit, was documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa. Miraculin itself does not taste sweet. When taste buds are exposed to miraculin, the protein binds to the sweetness receptors. This causes normally sour-tasting acidic foods, such as citrus, to be perceived as sweet. The effect can last for one or two hours. History The sweetening properties of '' Synsepalum dulcificum'' berries were first noted by des Marchais during expeditions to West Africa in the 18th century. The term ''miraculin'' derived from experiments to isolate and purify the active glycoprotein that gave the berries their sweetening effects, results that were published simultaneously by Japanese and Dutch scientists working independently in the 1960s (the Dutch team called the gly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Curculin
Curculin or neoculin is a sweet protein complex that was discovered and isolated in 1990 from the fruit of '' Curculigo latifolia'' ( Hypoxidaceae). Like miraculin, curculin exhibits taste-modifying activity; however, unlike miraculin, it also exhibits a sweet taste by itself. After consumption of curculin, water and sour solutions taste sweet. mRNAs for a related protein complex is found in '' Curculigo capitulata'' fruits, though at a much lower level of expression – so low that the product is undetectable by immunoblotting. Protein structure The active form of curculin is a heterodimer consisting of two monomeric units connected through two disulfide bridges. The mature monomers each consist of a sequence of 114 amino acids, weighing 12.5 kDa (curculin 1) and 12.7 kDa (curculin 2), respectively. While each of the two isoforms is capable of forming a homodimer, these do not possess the sweet taste nor the taste-modifying activity of the heterodimeric form. To avoid c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brazzein
Brazzein is a sweet-tasting protein that occurs naturally in oubli (''Pentadiplandra brazzeana''), a fruit native to the Atlantic coastal areas of Central Africa. Brazzein was first isolated in 1994 by scientists at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. It is roughly 500 to 2000 times sweeter than sucrose. Brazzein is found in the extracellular region of oubli fruit, in the pulp tissue surrounding the seeds. After pentadin, discovered in 1989, brazzein is the second sweet-tasting protein discovered in the Oubli fruit. Like other sweet proteins discovered in plants, such as monellin and thaumatin, brazzein is extremely sweet compared to commonly used sweeteners. The fruit tastes sweet to humans, monkeys, and bonobos, but gorillas have mutations in their sweetness receptors so that they do not find brazzein sweet, and they are not known to eat the fruit. Traditional use The Oubli plant (from which the protein was isolated) grows in Gabon and Cameroon, where its fruit has been c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mabinlin
Mabinlins are sweet, sweet-tasting proteins extracted from the seed of mabinlang (''Capparis masaikai Levl.''), a plant growing in Yunnan province of China. There are four homologues. Mabinlin-2 was first isolated in 1983 and characterised in 1993, and is the most extensively studied of the four. The other variants of mabinlin-1, -3 and -4 were discovered and characterised in 1994. Protein structures The 4 mabinlins are very similar in their Amino acid#Table of standard amino acid abbreviations and properties, amino acids peptide sequence, sequences (see below). ''Chain A'' M-1: M-2: M-3: M-4: ''Chain B'' M-1: M-2: M-3: M-4: ''Amino acid sequence of Mabinlins homologues are adapted from Swiss-Prot biological database of protein. The molecular weights of Mabinlin-1, Mabinlin-3 and Mabinlin-4 are 12.3 Atomic mass unit, kDa, 12.3 kDa and 11.9 kDa, respectively. With a molecular weight of 10.4kDa, mabinlin-2 is lighter than mabinlin-1. It is a heterodimer consistin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sugar Substitute
A sugar substitute or artificial sweetener, is a food additive that provides a sweetness like that of sugar while containing significantly less food energy than sugar-based sweeteners, making it a zero-calorie () or low-calorie sweetener. Artificial sweeteners may be derived through manufacturing of plant extracts or processed by chemical synthesis. Sugar substitute products are commercially available in various forms, such as small pills, powders and packets. Common sugar substitutes include aspartame, monk fruit extract, saccharin, sucralose, stevia, acesulfame potassium (ace-K) and cyclamate. These sweeteners are a fundamental ingredient in diet drinks to sweeten them without adding calories. Additionally, sugar alcohols such as erythritol, xylitol and sorbitol are derived from sugars. No links have been found between approved artificial sweeteners and cancer in humans. Reviews and dietetic professionals have concluded that moderate use of non-nutritive sweetener ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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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]   |
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Miraculin
Miraculin is a taste modifier, a glycoprotein extracted from the fruit of '' Synsepalum dulcificum''. The berry, also known as the miracle fruit, was documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa. Miraculin itself does not taste sweet. When taste buds are exposed to miraculin, the protein binds to the sweetness receptors. This causes normally sour-tasting acidic foods, such as citrus, to be perceived as sweet. The effect can last for one or two hours. History The sweetening properties of '' Synsepalum dulcificum'' berries were first noted by des Marchais during expeditions to West Africa in the 18th century. The term ''miraculin'' derived from experiments to isolate and purify the active glycoprotein that gave the berries their sweetening effects, results that were published simultaneously by Japanese and Dutch scientists working independently in the 1960s (the Dutch team called the gly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Stevia
Stevia () is a sweet sugar substitute that is about 50 to 300 times sweetness, sweeter than sugar. It is extracted from the leaves of ''Stevia rebaudiana'', a plant native to areas of Paraguay and Brazil. The active compounds in stevia are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside). Stevia is heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentation (food), fermentable. Humans cannot metabolize the glycosides in stevia, and it therefore has zero calories. Its taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and at high concentrations some of its extracts may have an aftertaste described as licorice-like or Bitter taste, bitter. Stevia is used in sugar-reduced and calorie-reduced food and beverage products as an alternative for variants with sugar. The legal status of stevia as a food additive or dietary supplement varies from country to country. In the United States, certain high-purity ''stevia glycoside'' extracts have been generally recognized as safe (GRA ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |