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Activity and stability of a new sweet protein with taste-modifying action, curculin.
R & D Division, Asahi Denka Kogyo Co. Ltd. Tokyo, Japan.
Curculin elicited a sweet taste. After the sweetness of curculin diminished, application of deionized water or an acid to the tongue induced a sweet taste. The maximum sweetness of curculin itself was equivalent to the sweetness of 0.35 M sucrose. The maximum sweetness induced by 0.02 M citric acid or deionized water after curculin dissolved in a buffer of pH 6.0 was held in mouth for 3 min was also equivalent to that of 0.35 M sucrose. The sweetness induced by deionized water was completely suppressed by the presence of 1 mM CaCl2 or MgCl2, while that induced by an acid was not suppressed by the presence of divalent cations. Based on these results, the mechanism of the taste-modifying activity was discussed. Stability of curculin was examined under various conditions. The taste-modifying activity of curculin was unchanged when curculin was incubated at 50 degrees C for 1 h between pH 3 and 11.
PMID: 7583017 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Cited by 2 PubMed Central articles
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Extracellular production of neoculin, a sweet-tasting heterodimeric protein with taste-modifying activity, by Aspergillus oryzae.
Nakajima K, Asakura T, Maruyama J, Morita Y, Oike H, Shimizu-Ibuka A, Misaka T, Sorimachi H, Arai S, Kitamoto K, et al.
Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006 May; 72(5):3716-23.
[Appl Environ Microbiol. 2006]
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ReviewSweet proteins--potential replacement for artificial low calorie sweeteners.
Kant R.
Nutr J. 2005 Feb 9; 4:5. Epub 2005 Feb 9.
[Nutr J. 2005]