我组在仿生传感研究方面取得新进展，研制出一种基于鲜味受体的仿生离子通道器件，实现了鲜味物质的识别与检测，并在食品样品检测中展现出很好的应用潜力。

鲜味是五种基本味觉之一，可指示食物中蛋白质的存在。尽管已有多种传感器问世，但鲜味强度的评估仍受限于传感器特异性、灵敏度和性能稳定性，仍然具有挑战性。本课题组开发了一种基于鲜味受体T1R1胞外结构域（VFT）的仿生纳米通道。利用纳米通道敏感的离子通量效应，功能纳米通道可以对鲜味物质（谷氨酸钠、5'-单磷酸肌苷、琥珀酸二钠和牛肉辛肽）进行特异性的识别和对非鲜味物质进行区分，该方法具有较好的检测性能。通过吸附动力学，电化学阻抗谱，圆二色谱对T1R1-VFT蛋白构象和表面电荷分布进行了探究，为功能纳米通道电流的变化提供合理的解释，此外，分子对接技术为鲜味受配体互作提供了理论的指导模型。这一工作将纳米通道技术扩展到味觉感知这一新的领域，极大拓展了纳米通道的应用范畴，为鲜味感知机理的探究和鲜味物质挖掘提供一种新的思路和技术手段。

      相关成果发表在生物材料类权威期刊《Biomaterials》上，以上研究工作得到国家自然科学基金的支持。

Biomimetic ion nanochannels for sensing umami substances

Mingyang Li, Ninglong Zhang, Zhiyong Cui, Wenli Wang, Cunli Wang, Dongdong Wang, Minmin Li, Wenqi Lu, Guangyan Qing, * Yuan Liu *

Biomaterials 2022, 282, 121418. DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2022.121418

Umami is one of the basic taste sensing, and represents the recognition of N-containing compounds capable of evaluating the nutritious contents of food. Although several sensors have been developed, the assessment of umami intensity remains challenging due to the limitations of sensor specificity, sensitivity, and performance stability. Here we present a biomimetic conical nanochannels system integrated with Venus flytrap (VFT) domain from human umami receptor T1R1 subunit to meet the concern. By taking advantage of sensitive transmembrane ionic flux change, the functional nanochannels could precisely distinguish umami substances from other tastants. Detailed mechanism analysis reveals that specific binding between T1R1 and umami substances triggers local conformation change and surface charge redistribution of the protein, which modulates the ionic current. This study initiates the application of nanochannel device in taste perception, which could help to disclose umami perception mechanism and screen new umami substances.