What is it about?
This is the first published crystal structure of the protein HT-AC (Honey Truffle Active Component), which is one of a very small class of proteins that taste sweet, and the only sweet protein that comes from a fungal source, the Hungarian Honey Truffle (Mattirolomyces terfezioides)
Featured Image
Photo by Joanna Kosinska on Unsplash
Why is it important?
Understanding the structure of this protein helps to explain why it tastes sweet. We know that the protein can activate the human sweet taste receptor (called T1R2/R3), and this structure reinforces our understanding that HT-AC binds to a different part of the receptor than sugar or other small high intensity sweetener molecules.
Perspectives
This is an exciting article for me as we have previously only had a weaker model of the protein to work from. Our research uses a combination of lab chemistry and biology along with computational models to understand the interactions of proteins with receptors like T1R2/R3, and every improvement in our input models makes our findings more trustworthy.
Daniel Connors
MycoTechnology, Inc.
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Crystal structures of the sweet-tasting protein honey truffle active component from
Mattirolomyces terfezioides, Acta Crystallographica Section F Structural Biology Communications, September 2026, International Union of Crystallography,
DOI: 10.1107/s2053230x26008745.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
