Miraculin

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Protein with taste-modifying activity

title: "Miraculin" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["taste-modifiers", "sugar-substitutes", "food-science", "biomolecules", "chemopreventive-agents"] description: "Protein with taste-modifying activity" topic_path: "general/taste-modifiers" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miraculin" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Protein with taste-modifying activity ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox nonhuman protein"]

FieldValue
NameMiraculin glycoprotein
captionCrystallographic structure of a dimeric miraculin-like protein from seeds of Murraya koenigii.
imageMiraculin.png
SymbolMIRA_RICDU
UniProtP13087
PDB3IIR
OrganismSynsepalum dulcificu
::

| Name = Miraculin glycoprotein | caption = Crystallographic structure of a dimeric miraculin-like protein from seeds of Murraya koenigii. | image = Miraculin.png | width = | HGNCid = | Symbol = MIRA_RICDU | AltSymbols = | EntrezGene = | OMIM = | RefSeq = | UniProt = P13087 | PDB = 3IIR | ECnumber = | Chromosome = | Arm = | Band = | LocusSupplementaryData = | Organism=Synsepalum dulcificu

Miraculin is a taste modifier, a glycoprotein extracted from the fruit of Synsepalum dulcificum. The berry, also known as the miracle fruit, was documented by explorer Chevalier des Marchais, who searched for many different fruits during a 1725 excursion to its native West Africa.

Miraculin itself does not taste sweet. When taste buds are exposed to miraculin, the protein binds to the sweetness receptors. This causes normally sour-tasting acidic foods, such as citrus, to be perceived as sweet. The effect can last for one or two hours.

History

The sweetening properties of Synsepalum dulcificum berries were first noted by des Marchais during expeditions to West Africa in the 18th century. The term miraculin derived from experiments to isolate and purify the active glycoprotein that gave the berries their sweetening effects, results that were published simultaneously by Japanese and Dutch scientists working independently in the 1960s (the Dutch team called the glycoprotein mieraculin). The word miraculin was in common use by the mid-1970s.

Glycoprotein structure

Miraculin was first sequenced in 1989 and was found to be a 24.6 kilodalton glycoprotein consisting of 191 amino acids and 13.9% by weight of various sugars.

::quote

{| class="wikitable" |- | SIGNAL (29) || |- | 1–50 || |- | 51–100 || |- | 101–150 || |- | 151–191 || |- | colspan="2" | Amino acids sequence of glycoprotein miraculin unit adapted from Swiss-Prot biological database of protein sequences. |} ::

The sugars consist of a total of 3.4 kDa, composed of a molar ratio of glucosamine (31%), mannose (30%), fucose (22%), xylose (10%), and galactose (7%).

The native state of miraculin is a tetramer consisting of two dimers, each held together by a disulfide bridge. Both tetramer miraculin and native dimer miraculin in its crude state have the taste-modifying activity of turning sour tastes into sweet tastes. Miraculin belongs to the Kunitz STI protease inhibitor family.

Sweetness properties

Miraculin, unlike curculin (another taste-modifying agent), is not sweet by itself, but it can change the perception of sourness to sweetness, even for a long period after consumption. The duration and intensity of the sweetness-modifying effect depends on various factors, such as miraculin concentration, duration of contact of the miraculin with the tongue, and acid concentration. Miraculin degrades permanently via denaturation at high temperatures and at pH below 3 or above 12.

Although the detailed mechanism of the taste-inducing behavior is unknown, it appears the sweet receptors are activated by acids which are related to sourness, an effect remaining until the taste buds perceive a neutral pH. One site maintains the attachment of the protein to the membranes while the other (with attached xylose or arabinose) activates the sweet receptor membrane in acid solutions.

As a sweetener

As miraculin is a readily soluble protein and relatively heat stable, it is a potential sweetener in acidic food, such as soft drinks. While attempts to express it in yeast and tobacco plants have failed, researchers have succeeded in preparing genetically modified E. coli bacteria that express miraculin. Lettuce and tomato have also been used for mass production of miraculin.

The use of miraculin as a food additive was denied in 1974 by the United States Food and Drug Administration. However, it can still be sold in the form of whole berries or tablets (as "dietary supplements").{{cite news |first=David |last=Cox | name-list-style = vanc |title=The 'Miracle' Berry That Could Replace Sugar |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/05/can-miraculin-solve-the-global-obesity-epidemic/371657/ |publisher=The Atlantic Monthly Group |date=2014-05-29 |access-date=2018-02-25}} In 2011 the FDA banned a certain brand of miraculin tablets imported from Taiwan as it was thought to be "hard candy" with non-approved sweeteners. Miraculin has a novel food status in the European Union. It is approved in Japan as a safe food additive, according to the List of Existing Food Additives published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare (published by the Japan External Trade Organization).

References

References

  1. (February 2010). "Cloning, sequence analysis and crystal structure determination of a miraculin-like protein from Murraya koenigii". Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics.
  2. (August 1988). "Complete purification and characterization of the taste-modifying protein, miraculin, from miracle fruit". The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
  3. (March 2016). "Intracellular acidification is required for full activation of the sweet taste receptor by miraculin". Scientific Reports.
  4. (November 2014). "The clinical effects of Synsepalum dulcificum: a review". Journal of Medicinal Food.
  5. (27 July 2014). "The miracle berry and miraculin: A review". WordPress.
  6. (September 1968). "Taste-modifying protein from miracle fruit". Science.
  7. (October 1968). "Mieraculin, the sweetness-inducing protein from miracle fruit". Nature.
  8. (July 1973). "Chemostimulatory protein: a new type of taste stimulus". Science.
  9. (1974). "Purification and some properties of miraculin, a glycoprotein from Synsepalum dulcificum which provokes sweetness and blocks sourness". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
  10. (1975). "[Physiology of smell and taste]". Archives of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology.
  11. (April 1989). "Complete amino acid sequence and structure characterization of the taste-modifying protein, miraculin". The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
  12. [[Swiss-Prot. UniProtKB/Swiss-Prot]] database entry [http://www.expasy.org/uniprot/P13087 P13087]
  13. (1992). "Characteristics of antisweet substances, sweet proteins, and sweetness-inducing proteins". Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition.
  14. (September 1991). "Determination of disulfide array and subunit structure of taste-modifying protein, miraculin". Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Protein Structure and Molecular Enzymology.
  15. (November 2007). "Curculin exhibits sweet-tasting and taste-modifying activities through its distinct molecular surfaces". The Journal of Biological Chemistry.
  16. (October 2011). "Human sweet taste receptor mediates acid-induced sweetness of miraculin". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
  17. (2018). "Sweeteners: pharmacology, biotechnology, and applications".
  18. (2018). "Pharmaceutical and therapeutic potential of miraculin and miracle berry". Tropical Journal of Natural Product Research.
  19. (April 2009). "Functional expression of miraculin, a taste-modifying protein in ''Escherichia coli''". Journal of Biochemistry.
  20. (January 2006). "Functional expression of the taste-modifying protein, miraculin, in transgenic lettuce". FEBS Letters.
  21. (September 2010). "Molecular breeding of tomato lines for mass production of miraculin in a plant factory". Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
  22. Gollner, Adam Leith. (31 March 2009). "The Fruit Hunters: A Story of Nature, Adventure, Commerce and Obsession". [[Anchor Canada]].
  23. Hieggelke, Brian. (2013-04-18). "Sugar Freedom: Chef Homaro Cantu and his Magnificent Miracle Berry Obsession". NewCity Communications Inc..
  24. (May 2025). "Import Alert 45-07".
  25. "Novel Food Catalogue".

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taste-modifierssugar-substitutesfood-sciencebiomoleculeschemopreventive-agents