Scientists have identified the most bitter-tasting substance ever discovered – a potent chemical compound found in a "bitter bracket" mushroom. The discovery comes from a collaborative project between the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich in Freising and the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry in Halle.

Their research sheds new light on how the human body detects and reacts to intensely bitter compounds, some of which are not harmful despite their taste.

As part of the study, the team focused on the extremely bitter fungus, Amaropostia stiptica, which develops a soft, white and shelf/bracket-like fruiting body with a rough surface and small pores.

Using modern analytical methods, researchers were able to isolate three previously unknown compounds and determine their molecular structures.

Follow-up testing by researchers in Freising showed that the compounds activated at least one of the approximately 25 known human bitter taste receptors.

"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," said food systems biologist Maik Behrens of the Leibniz Institute in Freising in a statement.

The findings help expand the BitterDB database, which currently contains more than 2,400 bitter molecules. Of those, around 800 are linked to specific human bitter taste receptors. However, the majority of these known compounds are either synthetic or derived from flowering plants.

Bitter substances from fungi, bacteria, or animals are still rarely included, making this study a significant step in broadening our understanding.

Աղբյուրը՝ Newsweek

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