Latest news with #MaikBehrens
NDTV
28-04-2025
- Health
- NDTV
Scientists Uncover World's Most Bitter Tasting Thing Ever
Scientists have discovered the most bitter-tasting thing ever, and it is not orange, lemon, or even Brussels sprouts. According to food researchers at the Technical University of Munich, a mushroom called Amaropostia stiptica, better known as bitter bracket fungus, is officially the 'most bitter thing in the world', as per a report in the BBC. The mushroom is widely available in Britain, and despite being extremely bitter, it is not toxic. The researchers extracted three compounds from the mushroom and studied their effect on human taste receptors. This tree-growing mushroom has a compound that is so potent that an individual would be able to taste a single gram of the substance dissolved in 106 bathtubs of water. Named oligoporin D, this chemical activates specialised bitter receptors in our mouths which also help detect natural poisons. Study's implications The study results, published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry may help scientists research how humans evolved to be able to detect bitter tastes and why. Notably, bitter is one of the five basic taste sensations humans have, alongside sweet, sour, salty and savoury, also called "umami". "Our results contribute to expanding our knowledge of the molecular diversity and mode of action of natural bitter compounds," said lead researcher Dr Maik Behrens. "In the long term, insights in this area could enable new applications in food and health research, for example in the development of sensorially appealing foods that positively influence digestion and satiety." Prior to the German study, most of the research had centred around how flowering plants can have a bitter taste. However, fewer studies had been done looking at fungi such as mushrooms. Studies show that sensors for bitter substances are also found in the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs apart from the mouth. Previous studies have indicated that sensors for bitter substances are not only found in the mouth but also in the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs. Researchers stated that closely analysing compounds derived from fungi like oligoporin D could be key to understanding our complex relationship with bitterness.
Yahoo
13-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Scientists identify most bitter substance ever known
Food scientists have discovered a mushroom chemical they say is the most bitter substance known thus far, a finding that sheds light on how the tongue helps us perceive taste. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology in Germany extracted three compounds from Amaropostia stiptica mushroom and studied their effect on human taste receptors. They found the chemicals to be the most bitter substances known to man, expanding our knowledge of natural bitter compounds and their effects on the tongue. Thousands of different chemical molecules are known to be bitter, mainly sourced from flowering plants or synthetic sources. But, scientists say, bitter compounds from animal, bacterial or fungal origins remain less studied. Expanding our understanding of such compounds, they say, may unravel the mystery of how the perception of bitterness evolved in humans. Bitter taste receptors are thought to have evolved to warn human beings against consuming potentially harmful substances. Not all bitter compounds are toxic or harmful, though, and not every toxic substance – like the death cap mushroom – tastes bitter. Previous studies have indicated that sensors for bitter substances are not only found in the mouth but also in the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs. Since these organs are not involved in helping us "taste", the physiological significance of these sensors remains a mystery. This is where their comprehensive collection of data on bitter compounds helps, the Leibniz Institute researchers say. 'The more well-founded data we have on the various bitter compound classes, taste receptor types and variants, the better we can develop predictive models to identify new bitter compounds and predict bitter taste receptor-mediated effects,' Maik Behrens, co-author of the study, says. 'Our results contribute to expanding our knowledge of the molecular diversity and mode of action of natural bitter compounds'. In the latest study, scientists assessed the non-toxic bitter bracket mushroom, which tastes 'extremely bitter'. They extracted and examined three previously unknown compounds from the mushroom and determined their chemical structures. Using lab-grown cell models, the researchers showed these chemicals were involved in activating at least one of the approximately 25 human bitter taste sensor types in the body. One compound discovered during the study, oligoporin D, stimulated the bitter taste receptor on the tongue, called TAS2R46, even at the lowest concentrations. Just a gram of oligoporin D dissolved in as much as '106 bathtubs of water' was found to be bitter. 'Oligoporin D activated TAS2R46 already at a submicromolar concentration and thus belongs to the family of most potent bitter agonists,' researchers note in the study.
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
This Fungus Contains The Most Bitter Substance Known to Humankind
The bitter bracket fungus, Amaropostia stiptica, is probably not available at your local farmer's market, and if you didn't get the hint from its name, it's because it tastes really, really terrible. In fact, this bracket fungus is so bitter that a team of gustatory physiologists and biochemists felt they should take a closer look at its molecular makeup, in the hope it could help us understand why bitter taste exists in the first place. They encountered three previously unknown bitter compounds, one of which may be the most potently bitter substance ever encountered. It's called oligoporin D, and it activated the human bitter taste receptor TAS2R46 at concentrations so low you could probably detect just a pinch of the stuff if it had been dissolved in an Olympic swimming pool. The three compounds were tested on lab-grown tasting cells, and each was found to activate at least one of the 25 varieties of human bitter taste receptors. Taste receptors on our tongues (or rather, the signals they send to our brains) can convince us to spit out particularly bitter substances – even though our species tends to rise to such challenges, learning to love what would deter other creatures. This has led scientists to assume that bitter tastes exist to deter us from eating things we shouldn't, although there are so many exceptions that the theory is becoming increasingly tenuous. The bitter bracket fungus, for instance, is "of no gastronomic interest", but it's not actually poisonous. The deathcap mushroom (Amanita phalloides) can be lethal, but by all accounts, it apparently tastes quite nice. "However," the authors point out, "humans are not the primary predator of mushrooms; numerous other vertebrates and invertebrates consume them, and their receptors may be tuned to separate toxic from nontoxic mushrooms better." To add to the confusion, these so-called 'taste' receptors are found in other parts of the human body, including your colon, stomach, and even your skin. They serve very different functions there. "The more well-founded data we have on the various bitter compound classes, taste receptor types and variants, the better we can develop predictive models using systems biology methods to identify new bitter compounds and predict bitter taste receptor-mediated effects," says Maik Behrens, food systems biologist at the Technical University of Munich in Germany. "This applies to both food constituents and endogenous substances that activate extra-oral bitter taste receptors." The bitter bracket fungus may not have answers for us just yet, but its tongue-curling flavor should help lead the way. It's filling a fungi-shaped gap in our databases of bitter tastes, which are full of molecules from flowering plants and chemistry laboratories, yet contain very little representation from the animal, bacterial, and fungal kingdoms. It's important to diversify those records to include more ancient substances if we want to understand the purpose of bitter taste receptors: they evolved over 500 million years ago, while flowering plants and human chemists are relatively modern, around 200 million years and a few centuries old, respectively. "Our results contribute to expanding our knowledge of the molecular diversity and mode of action of natural bitter compounds," says Behrens. "In the long term, insights in this area could enable new applications in food and health research, for example in the development of sensorially appealing foods that positively influence digestion and satiety." And before you go daring your friends to take a lick of Amaropostia stiptica, please remember that there may be poison lookalikes out there. Best to keep your own taste receptors far from unidentified fungi. The research was published in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Bonobo Communication Reveals a Stunning Kinship to Human Speech Mass Anthrax Outbreak Kills Dozens of Hippos in African National Park Dissection of 130,000-Year-Old Baby Mammoth Reveals Glimpse Into Lost World
Iraqi News
09-04-2025
- Health
- Iraqi News
Scientists identify most bitter substance ever known
INA- sources Food scientists have discovered a mushroom chemical they say is the most bitter substance known thus far, a finding that sheds light on how the tongue helps us perceive taste. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology in Germany extracted three compounds from Amaropostia stiptica mushroom and studied their effect on human taste receptors. They found the chemicals to be the most bitter substances known to man, expanding our knowledge of natural bitter compounds and their effects on the tongue. Thousands of different chemical molecules are known to be bitter, mainly sourced from flowering plants or synthetic sources. But, scientists say, bitter compounds from animal, bacterial or fungal origins remain less studied. Expanding our understanding of such compounds, they say, may unravel the mystery of how the perception of bitterness evolved in humans. Bitter taste receptors are thought to have evolved to warn human beings against consuming potentially harmful substances. Not all bitter compounds are toxic or harmful, though, and not every toxic substance – like the death cap mushroom – tastes bitter. Previous studies have indicated that sensors for bitter substances are not only found in the mouth but also in the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs. Since these organs are not involved in helping us "taste", the physiological significance of these sensors remains a mystery. This is where their comprehensive collection of data on bitter compounds helps, the Leibniz Institute researchers say. 'The more well-founded data we have on the various bitter compound classes, taste receptor types and variants, the better we can develop predictive models to identify new bitter compounds and predict bitter taste receptor-mediated effects,' Maik Behrens, co-author of the study, says. 'Our results contribute to expanding our knowledge of the molecular diversity and mode of action of natural bitter compounds'. In the latest study, scientists assessed the non-toxic bitter bracket mushroom, which tastes 'extremely bitter'. They extracted and examined three previously unknown compounds from the mushroom and determined their chemical structures. Using lab-grown cell models, the researchers showed these chemicals were involved in activating at least one of the approximately 25 human bitter taste sensor types in the body. One compound discovered during the study, oligoporin D, stimulated the bitter taste receptor on the tongue, called TAS2R46, even at the lowest concentrations. Just a gram of oligoporin D dissolved in as much as '106 bathtubs of water' was found to be bitter. 'Oligoporin D activated TAS2R46 already at a submicromolar concentration and thus belongs to the family of most potent bitter agonists,' researchers note in the study.
The Independent
08-04-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Scientists identify most bitter substance ever known
Food scientists have discovered a mushroom chemical they say is the most bitter substance known thus far, a finding that sheds light on how the tongue helps us perceive taste. Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology in Germany extracted three compounds from Amaropostia stiptica mushroom and studied their effect on human taste receptors. They found the chemicals to be the most bitter substances known to man, expanding our knowledge of natural bitter compounds and their effects on the tongue. Thousands of different chemical molecules are known to be bitter, mainly sourced from flowering plants or synthetic sources. But, scientists say, bitter compounds from animal, bacterial or fungal origins remain less studied. Expanding our understanding of such compounds, they say, may unravel the mystery of how the perception of bitterness evolved in humans. Bitter taste receptors are thought to have evolved to warn human beings against consuming potentially harmful substances. Not all bitter compounds are toxic or harmful, though, and not every toxic substance – like the death cap mushroom – tastes bitter. Previous studies have indicated that sensors for bitter substances are not only found in the mouth but also in the stomach, intestines, heart and lungs. Since these organs are not involved in helping us "taste", the physiological significance of these sensors remains a mystery. This is where their comprehensive collection of data on bitter compounds helps, the Leibniz Institute researchers say. 'The more well-founded data we have on the various bitter compound classes, taste receptor types and variants, the better we can develop predictive models to identify new bitter compounds and predict bitter taste receptor-mediated effects,' Maik Behrens, co-author of the study, says. 'Our results contribute to expanding our knowledge of the molecular diversity and mode of action of natural bitter compounds'. In the latest study, scientists assessed the non-toxic bitter bracket mushroom, which tastes 'extremely bitter'. They extracted and examined three previously unknown compounds from the mushroom and determined their chemical structures. Using lab-grown cell models, the researchers showed these chemicals were involved in activating at least one of the approximately 25 human bitter taste sensor types in the body. One compound discovered during the study, oligoporin D, stimulated the bitter taste receptor on the tongue, called TAS2R46, even at the lowest concentrations. Just a gram of oligoporin D dissolved in as much as '106 bathtubs of water' was found to be bitter. 'Oligoporin D activated TAS2R46 already at a submicromolar concentration and thus belongs to the family of most potent bitter agonists,' researchers note in the study.
