Human sweet taste receptor mediates acid-induced sweetness of miraculin

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Oct 4;108(40):16819-24. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1016644108. Epub 2011 Sep 26.

Abstract

Miraculin (MCL) is a homodimeric protein isolated from the red berries of Richadella dulcifica. MCL, although flat in taste at neutral pH, has taste-modifying activity to convert sour stimuli to sweetness. Once MCL is held on the tongue, strong sweetness is sensed over 1 h each time we taste a sour solution. Nevertheless, no molecular mechanism underlying the taste-modifying activity has been clarified. In this study, we succeeded in quantitatively evaluating the acid-induced sweetness of MCL using a cell-based assay system and found that MCL activated hT1R2-hT1R3 pH-dependently as the pH decreased from 6.5 to 4.8, and that the receptor activation occurred every time an acid solution was applied. Although MCL per se is sensory-inactive at pH 6.7 or higher, it suppressed the response of hT1R2-hT1R3 to other sweeteners at neutral pH and enhanced the response at weakly acidic pH. Using human/mouse chimeric receptors and molecular modeling, we revealed that the amino-terminal domain of hT1R2 is required for the response to MCL. Our data suggest that MCL binds hT1R2-hT1R3 as an antagonist at neutral pH and functionally changes into an agonist at acidic pH, and we conclude this may cause its taste-modifying activity.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Line
  • Fluorescence
  • Glycoproteins / chemistry
  • Glycoproteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Hydrogen-Ion Concentration
  • Mice
  • Models, Molecular*
  • Protein Conformation*
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / chemistry
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / metabolism*
  • Taste Buds / metabolism*

Substances

  • Glycoproteins
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
  • miraculin protein, Synsepalum dulcificum
  • taste receptors, type 1