• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Biotechnology Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.126-131
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• 2005

Richadella dulcifica, a native shrub in tropical West Africa, gives red berries that have the unusual property of modifying a sour taste into a sweet taste. The red berries contain a taste-modifying protein named miraculin. A synthetic gene encoding miraculin was placed under the control of constitutive promoters and transferred to lettuce. High expression of miraculin was obtained, with accumulation of up to 1% total soluble protein in lettuce leaf. In addition, the miraculin expressed in lettuce possesses a taste-modifying activity.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.397-404
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• 2016

Sweet and taste modifying proteins are natural alternatives to synthetic sweeteners and flavor enhancers, and have been used for centuries in different countries. Use of these proteins is limited due to less stability and availability. However, recent advances in biotechnology have enhanced their availability. These include production of sweet and taste modifying proteins in transgenic organisms, and protein engineering to improve their stability. Their increased availability in the food, beverage or medicinal industries as sweeteners and flavor enhancers will reduce the dependence on artificial alternatives. Production of transgenic plants using sweet and taste modifying genes, is an interesting alternative to the extraction of these products from natural source. In this review paper, we briefly describe various sweet and taste modifying proteins (such as thaumatin, monellin, brazzein, curculin and miraculin), their properties, and their application for plant development using biotechnological approaches.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.3
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• pp.227-234
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• 2020

To produce the miraculin protein in suspension cultures, rice (Oryza sativa L.) was transformed with Agrobacterium tumefacience EHA105 containing the miraculin AB512278 gene. The cell suspension cultures were established using cell lines selected from transgenic rice callus. The integration of the miraculin gene into the rice chromosome was confirmed using genomic PCR analysis. In addition, RT-PCR analysis indicated that the miraculin gene is expressed in the selected suspension cell lines. Thus, the recombinant miraculin was expressed in the transgenic suspension cell line, HK-2. Therefore, we have successfully developed a HK-2 line that produces miraculin. These results demonstrate that transformed cell suspension cultures can be used to produce a taste-modifying protein such as miraculin.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.257-265
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• 2018

Sweetener is one of the additives that makes you feel sweet. Artificial sweeteners and sugar are typical examples, and sweetness proteins with sweetness characteristics have been widely studied. These studies elucidated the transformation lettuce cells with Agrobacterium method for stable production of natural sweet proteins, brazzein, thaumatin, and miraculin. In this paper, we report use of a plant expression system for production of sweet proteins. A synthetic gene encoding sweet proteins was placed under the control of constitutive promoters and transferred to lettuce. High and genetically stable expression of sweetener was confirmed in leaves by RT-PCR and Western blot analysis. Sweet proteins expressed in transgenic lettuce had sweetness-inducing activity. Results demonstrate recombinant sweet proteins correctly processed in transgenic lettuce plants, and that this production system could be a viable alternative to production from the native plant.