Critical regions for the sweetness of brazzein

Zheyuan Jin, Vicktoria Danilova, Fariba M. Assadi-Porter, David J. Aceti, John L. Markley, G. öran Hellekant

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

64 Scopus citations

Abstract

Brazzein is a small, heat-stable, intensely sweet protein consisting of 54 amino acid residues. Based on the wild-type brazzein, 25 brazzein mutants have been produced to identify critical regions important for sweetness. To assess their sweetness, psychophysical experiments were carried out with 14 human subjects. First, the results suggest that residues 29-33 and 39-43, plus residue 36 between these stretches, as well as the C-terminus are involved in the sweetness of brazzein. Second, charge plays an important role in the interaction between brazzein and the sweet taste receptor.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)33-37
Number of pages5
JournalFEBS Letters
Volume544
Issue number1-3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 5 2003

Keywords

  • Brazzein
  • Mutagenesis
  • Sweet protein
  • Sweetness determinant
  • Sweetness evaluation
  • Taste

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