ROLE OF BASIC AND ACIDIC FRAGMENTS IN DELICIOUS PEPTIDES (LYS-GLY-ASP-GLU-GLU-SER-LEU-ALA) AND THE TASTE BEHAVIOR OF SODIUM AND POTASSIUM-SALTS IN ACIDIC OLIGOPEPTIDES
T. Nakata et al., ROLE OF BASIC AND ACIDIC FRAGMENTS IN DELICIOUS PEPTIDES (LYS-GLY-ASP-GLU-GLU-SER-LEU-ALA) AND THE TASTE BEHAVIOR OF SODIUM AND POTASSIUM-SALTS IN ACIDIC OLIGOPEPTIDES, Bioscience, biotechnology, and biochemistry, 59(4), 1995, pp. 689-693
The role of the acidic fragment (Asp-Glu-Glu) in delicious peptides wa
s investigated in detail by using the Na+ or K+ salts of acidic oligop
eptides so that amount of Na+ or K+ intake of peptides composed of aci
dic amino acids could be varied by changing their sequences, The taste
of these peptides was confirmed to vary with Na+ or K+ intake, Additi
onally, in order to study the role of basic (Lys-Gly) and acidic (Asp-
Glu-Glu) fragments in delicious peptides for producing the taste, five
delicious peptide analogs, Ser-Leu-Ala-Lys-Gly-Asp-Glu-Glu, Ser-Leu-A
la-Asp-Glu-Glu-Lys-Gly, Lys-Gly-Ser-Leu-Ala-Asp-Glu-Glu, Lys-Gly-Asp-G
lu-Glu, and Glu-Glu-Asp-Gly-Lys, were synthesized, The intensity of th
e umami and/or salty taste of these peptides and their Na salts was al
most the same, despite their chemical structures being different, Thes
e results indicate that the acidic fragment as well as the basic fragm
ent plays an important role in the taste production and intensity of d
elicious peptides, and that an umami or salty taste can be produced by
the localization of the cation of the basic fragment and the anion of
the acidic fragment.