SuperSweet--a resource on natural and artificial sweetening agents

Nucleic Acids Res. 2011 Jan;39(Database issue):D377-82. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkq917. Epub 2010 Oct 14.

Abstract

A vast number of sweet tasting molecules are known, encompassing small compounds, carbohydrates, d-amino acids and large proteins. Carbohydrates play a particularly big role in human diet. The replacement of sugars in food with artificial sweeteners is common and is a general approach to prevent cavities, obesity and associated diseases such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia. Knowledge about the molecular basis of taste may reveal new strategies to overcome diet-induced diseases. In this context, the design of safe, low-calorie sweeteners is particularly important. Here, we provide a comprehensive collection of carbohydrates, artificial sweeteners and other sweet tasting agents like proteins and peptides. Additionally, structural information and properties such as number of calories, therapeutic annotations and a sweetness-index are stored in SuperSweet. Currently, the database consists of more than 8000 sweet molecules. Moreover, the database provides a modeled 3D structure of the sweet taste receptor and binding poses of the small sweet molecules. These binding poses provide hints for the design of new sweeteners. A user-friendly graphical interface allows similarity searching, visualization of docked sweeteners into the receptor etc. A sweetener classification tree and browsing features allow quick requests to be made to the database. The database is freely available at: http://bioinformatics.charite.de/sweet/.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acids / chemistry
  • Binding Sites
  • Carbohydrates / chemistry
  • Databases, Factual*
  • Proteins / chemistry
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / chemistry*
  • Structural Homology, Protein
  • Sweetening Agents / chemistry*

Substances

  • Amino Acids
  • Carbohydrates
  • Proteins
  • Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled
  • Sweetening Agents
  • taste receptors, type 1