Mabinlin

Mabinlins are sweet-tasting proteins extracted from the seed of mabinlang, Capparis masaikai, a plant native to China's Yunnan province; four distinct homologues are known, with mabinlin-2 the most thoroughly studied. They are roughly one hundred to four hundred times sweeter than sucrose by molar comparison, though only about ten times sweeter by weight, making them less potent than thaumatin while offering comparable flavor characteristics. Mabinlin-2 is notably heat stable, retaining its sweetness after forty eight hours at eighty degrees Celsius, and researchers have explored producing it through genetic modification of potato crops and recombinant methods, though it remains largely experimental and has not seen widespread commercial adoption, partly because early synthesis attempts produced an undesirable astringent taste.