Capparis masaikai

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{speciesbox |genus = Capparis |species = masaikai |authority = Levl. }}

'''''Capparis masaikai''''', known as '''mabinlang''',<ref name="latin">Data Portal of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF). [http://data.gbif.org/species/17487328/ Biodiversity occurrence data for Capparis masaikai H. Léveillé] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303165927/http://data.gbif.org/species/17487328/ |date=March 3, 2016 }}</ref> grows in the subtropical region of the Yunnan province of China and bear fruits of tennis-ball size. The mature seeds are used in traditional Chinese medicine.

They are also used as sweets; the seeds elicit a sweet taste when chewed.<ref name="liu-1993">X Liu, S Maeda, Z Hu, T Aiuchi, K Nakaya, Y Kurihara. Purification, complete amino acid sequence and structural characterization of the heat-stable sweet protein, mabinlin II. Eur J Biochem 1993. 211(1–2):281-7. {{doi|10.1111/j.1432-1033.1993.tb19896.x}} {{PMID|8425538}}</ref>

The origin of the sweet taste was identified as sweet-tasting proteins named mabinlins. They are highly sweet, 100-400 times sweeter than sucrose on a weight basis.<ref name="liu-1993"/><ref name="nirasawa-1994">S Nirasawa, T Nishino, M Katahira, S Uesugi, Z Hu, Y Kurihara. Structures of heat-stable and unstable homologues of the sweet protein mabinlin. Eur J Biochem 1994, 223(3):989-95. {{doi|10.1111/j.1432-1033.1994.tb19077.x}} {{PMID|8055976}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

masaikai Category:Flora of China