Miracle fruit

Because of this unusual property, the berry has been called miracle fruit. Kurihara and Beidler first isolated the active principle of the miracle fruit and showed that it is a basic glycoprotein. Brouwer and his colleagues also isolated the active principle and named it miraculin . 

Brouwer JN, van der Wei H, Francke A, Henning GJ, MiracuHn, the sweetness-inducing protein from miracle fruit. Nature 220 373—374, 1968. 

Kurihara K, Beidler LM, Taste modifying protein from miracle fruit. Science... 

Enhancers and Inducers. A sweetness enhancer is defined as a compound that imparts no taste per se, but when combined with a sweetener in small quantities, increases sweetness intensity. A tme sweetness enhancer has yet to be found. However, a good sweetness inducer, miraculin [143403-94-5] or [125267-18-7] (124), is known. Miraculin is a glycoprotein found in the fruit (called Miracle Fruit) of a West African shrub, BJchardella dulcifica. By itself, miraculin imparts no sweetness. When activated in the mouth by acidic substances, however, a sucrose-like sweetness is perceived. Thus, sour lemon, lime, grapefruit, rhubarb, and strawberry taste sweet when combined with miraculin. The taste conversion effect can last an hour or longer. 

In 1974, a petition for affirmation of the GRAS status of miracle fruit was submitted by the Miralin Company, mainly based on the fact that miracle fruits have been consumed by humans since before 1958. In 1977, the petition was denied by the FDA. However, miraculin remains a research curiosity. Its structure was elucidated in 1989 (125). Another protein, curculin [151404-13-6] (126), has also been reported to exert a sweet-inducing activity similar to miraculin. 

Richadella dulcifica (miracle fruit) (Sapotaceae) [fruit] Miraculin (MIR) (25 kDa glycoprotein 220 aa 24 kDa 7 Cys 3 S-S 1 interchain S-S) Soybean KPI homologue (converts sour to sweet taste) [416- 420]... 

Some substances have the ability to modify our perception of taste qualities. Two such compounds are gymnemagenin, which is able to suppress the ability to taste sweetness, and the protein from miracle fruit, which changes the perception of sour to sweet. Both compounds are obtained from tropical plants. 

Miraculin Synsepalum dulcificum (miracle fruit) Glycoprotein that... 

Richadella Miraculin (25kDa glycoprotein) Richadella dulcifica (miracle fruit) (Sapotaceae) [fruit] Soybean KPI homologue... 

Although vanillin, ethyl vanillin and sucrose are normally not considered as flavour modifiers, they nevertheless have flavour modifying properties Isolated from the leaves of Gymnema sylvestre, a tropical plant Glycoprotein from miracle fruit, the fruit of a West African shrub... 

Miraculin (trade name Mirlin ) Modifies sour into sweet taste. After rinsing the mouth with a solution of miraculin, lemon juice tastes like sweetened lemon juice. Salty, bitter, and sweet tastes are not affected. Tasteless glycoprotein (molecular weight 40,000 -48,000 sugar moiety 14%) isolated from the miracle fruit, i.e. the fruits of Rich-adella dulcifica (Synsepalum dulsificum). 

Increasing research has developed several new noncaloric sweeteners the dihydrochalcone group of disaccharide, glycyrrhizin (licorice extract), especially its ammoniated derivative dulcin (4-ethoxy-phenylurea), the glycoprotein of miracle fruit and a polypeptide from a tropical fruit called the serendipity berry, said to be 3000 times sweeter than sucrose. Aspartame (C14H18N205) has been approved by FDA. 

Theerasilp, S., and Kurihara, Y. (1988). Complete purification and characterization of the taste-modifying protein, miraculin, from miracle fruit. J. Biol. Chem. 263,11536-11539. Theerasilp, S., Hitotsuya, H., Nakajo, S., Nakaya, K., Nakamura, Y., and Kurihara, Y. (1989). 

Thaumatin (also called thalin) is a mixture of sweet proteins extracted from the fruit of the tropical West African flowering plant Thaumatococcus danielli (Marantaceae), known as miracle fruit or miracle berry. It is the only protein sweetener approved in the EU (E957). The main components with sweet notes resembling... 

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