Abstract
IN developing a radioimmunoassay for thaumatin, a sweet-tasting plant protein, we have found that antibodies raised against the molecule cross-react with a wide variety of nonprotein sweet substances. The results suggest that some structural feature of thaumatin which interacts with the sweet-taste receptor is also the major antigenic determinant. We suggest that antibodies raised against thaumatin may provide a novel method for measuring ‘sweetness’ in vitro and may throw light on the nature of interactions between sweet substances and taste receptors.
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HOUGH, C., EDWARDSON, J. Antibodies to thaumatin as a model of the sweet taste receptor. Nature 271, 381–383 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1038/271381a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/271381a0
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