Solid-phase synthesis of crystalline monellin, a sweet protein.
The sweet protein, monellin, consists of two noncovalently associated polypeptide chains, the A chain of 44 amino acid residues and the B chain of 50 residues. The B chain was synthesized by the stepwise Fmoc solid-phase method in an overall yield of 6.2%. The synthetic B chain was combined with the synthetic A chain, which was left over from a previous work, to give monellin in a yield of 25.7%. The synthetic monellin was approximately 4000 times as sweet as sucrose, while the previously synthesized [Asn49, Glu50] B-chain monellin was also approximately 4000 times as sweet as sucrose. Exchanging Glu49 and Asn50 in the B chain did not affect the sweetness potency. Crystallization was performed by a vapor diffusion method.
Kohmura
M
M
Central Research Laboratories, Ajinomoto Co., Inc., Kawasaki, Japan.
Nio
N
N
Ariyoshi
Y
Y
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D003460:Crystallization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010940:Plant Proteins / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry; D011487:Protein Conformation; D013549:Sweetening Agents / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry
D010940:Plant Proteins; D013549:Sweetening Agents; C002541:monellin protein, Dioscoreophyllum cumminsii