Abstract.
Bitter peptides are a structurally diverse group of oligopeptides often generated in fermented, aged, and hydrolyzed food products that make them unfavorable for consumption. Humans perceive bitterness by a repertoire of 25 human bitter receptors, termed T2Rs. Knowledge of the structural features of bitter receptors and of the factors that stimulate bitter receptors will aid in understanding the mechanism responsible for bitter taste perception. This article reviews the current knowledge regarding structural features of bitter peptides and bitter taste receptors.
Keywords. Bitter peptide, casein hydrolysate, bitter receptor, T2Rs, structure
Footnotes
Received 24 November 2008; received after revision 11 December 2008; accepted 16 December 2008