Ajinomoto Co., Ltd.

Hiroaki Nagasaki

Yuzuru Eto

Naohiro Miyamura

Yusuke Amino

Masayuki Sugiki

Toshihiro Hatanaka

Sayaka Asari

Tetsuo Yano

Reiko Yasuda

Sen Takeshita

Katsuhiko Kitamoto

Toru Okamatsu

Yayoi Kawato

Jiro Kataoka

Takeaki Ohsu

Kyoko Koibuchi

Tomohiko Yamanaka

Ari Yuasa

Yukie Seki

Katsuya Seguro

Yuihaku Aso

Shuichi Jo

The body taste of a sweetener (for example, aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame, etc.) is improved by blending the sweetener with an amino acid or a peptide, which is able to activate a calcium receptor, such as &#x3b3;-Glu-X-Gly (wherein X represents an amino acid or an amino acid derivative), &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-Y (wherein Y represents an amino acid or an amino acid derivative), &#x3b3;-Glu-Ala, &#x3b3;-Glu-Gly, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys, &#x3b3;-Glu-Met, &#x3b3;-Glu-Thr, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val, &#x3b3;-Glu-Orn, Asp-Gly, Cys-Gly, Cys-Met, Glu-Cys, Gly-Cys, Leu-Asp, D-Cys, &#x3b3;-Glu-Met(O), &#x3b3;-Glu-&#x3b3;-Glu-Val, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-NH, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-ol, &#x3b3;-Glu-Ser, &#x3b3;-Glu-Tau, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys(S-Me)(O), &#x3b3;-Glu-Leu, &#x3b3;-Glu-Ile, &#x3b3;-Glu-t-Leu, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys(S-Me), etc.

Sweetener

The present invention encompasses a method for screening for a kokumi-imparting substance by using the calcium receptor activity as an index, a composition containing a kokumi-imparting substance obtained by the screening method, a method for producing food or drink imparted with kokumi, and food or drink imparted with kokumi.

Kokumi-imparting agent

By searching various kinds of compounds having CaSR agonistic activity, the present invention provides CaSR agonistic agents, pharmaceutical compositions, preventive or therapeutic agents for diarrhea and kokumi-imparting agents each of which comprise the compound. More specifically, the present invention provides CaSR agonistic agents, pharmaceutical compositions, preventive or therapeutic agents for diarrhea and kokumi-imparting agents each of which comprise a glutamic acid derivative having CaSR agonistic activity or pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof.

CaSR agonists

A low-fat food containing an amino acid or a peptide which is able to activate a calcium receptor, examples of which include &#x3b3;-Glu-X-Gly, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-Y, &#x3b3;-Glu-Ala, &#x3b3;-Glu-Gly, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys, &#x3b3;-Glu-Met, &#x3b3;-Glu-Thr, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val, &#x3b3;-Glu-Orn, Asp-Gly, Cys-Gly, Cys-Met, Glu-Cys, Gly-Cys, Leu-Asp, D-Cys, &#x3b3;-Glu-Met(O), &#x3b3;-Glu-&#x3b3;-Glu-Val, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-NH, &#x3b3;-Glu-Val-ol, &#x3b3;-Glu-Ser, &#x3b3;-Glu-Tau, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys(S-Me)(O), &#x3b3;-Glu-Leu, &#x3b3;-Glu-Ile, &#x3b3;-Glu-t-Leu, &#x3b3;-Glu-Cys(S-Me), etc, wherein X and Y are an amino acid or an amino acid derivative.

Food

Glutaminase is purified from an, its partial amino acid sequence is determined, a partial sequence of glutaminase gene is obtained by PCR based on the obtained information, and DNA fragments containing glutaminase gene fromgenomic library and cDNA library, andgenomic library by hybridization using the partial sequence as a probe.

Glutaminase, its gene and a method of producing it

Glutaminase is purified from an , its partial amino acid sequence is determined, a partial sequence of glutaminase gene is obtained by PCR based on the obtained information, and DNA fragments containing glutaminase gene from genomic library and cDNA library, and genomic library hybridization using the partial sequence as a probe.

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Kawasaki, Japan

Hiroaki Nagasaki