1. Introduction
Natural and artificial sugar substitutes, also known as replacers
or alternative sweeteners, have historically been considered inert
compounds without physiological activity other than taste sensations.
However, recent data suggest that some of these sweeteners
have biological effects that may negatively impact human health. This phenomenon, which becomes more relevant
with the increase in people affected by diseases directly
linked to glucose consumption, makes the design of novel and
‘‘safe’’ low calorie sweeteners an essential and attractive task. In
general, sweet substances, including sugars, artificial sweeteners,
some D-amino acids and sweet-tasting proteins, base their mechanism
of action on the stimulation of the same taste receptor,
the heterodimeric G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) T1R2–T1R3. Structurally, this is composed of two class C GPCR subunits,
each with a large (55 kDa) extracellular N-terminal domain linked
to a C-terminal 7-transmembrane domain by a cysteine-rich region. Among the different ligands able to activate
this receptor and elicit sweet taste, sweet proteins are extremely
appealing for potential use as low-calories sweeteners, and particularly
beneficial to individuals who need to control sugar intake,
such as obese or diabetic subjects. The three best studied members
of the family of sweet proteins are monellin, brazzein, and thaumatin.
Although their structure has been extensively characterised,
the mechanism of action of these powerful chemosensory ligands
has not been completely elucidated yet.
Moreover, comparisons between the structures of the three sweet
proteins are not particularly informative, as they share no obvious
structural similarities. Currently, the
model that best explains the possibility of interaction in such
diverse ligands with the same receptor is the so called ‘‘wedge
model’’.
This model is based on the results of in silico docking studies of
sweet proteins on a model of the T1R2:T1R3 receptor built on
the template of the mGlu receptor. The results of these studies point toward a common
mechanism of interaction, in which a fairly large area of positive
charge density on the sweet protein surface binds to patches of
complementary charge on the receptor, thus stabilising its active
conformation. This mode of action is different from that of small
sweeteners, which instead bind a pocket in the Venus Fly Trap
(VFT) domain of the dimeric receptor, but nonetheless elicit the
sweet sensation.