Rebaudioside M

Description

The rebaudiosides are steviol glycosides that are more than 100 times sweeter than sugar. They are found in the leaves of the stevia plant (Stevia rebaudiana), from which they get their name. The leaves have been used by indigenous South American peoples since at least the 5th century CE.
The rebaudiosides exist in such small concentrations in the leaves that isolating them is impractical for commercial production. But now, Manus Biosynthesis (Cambridge, MA) is developing a?scalable fermentation process to make one of the isomers?(rebaudioside M, shown) in commercial quantities. The process was initially developed in the laboratory of Gregory Stephanopoulos at MIT. Thus far, Manus has produced bulk quantities of rebaudioside M in 95% purity.

Definition

ChEBI: Rebaudioside M is a rebaudioside that is rebaudioside A in which the the hydroxy groups at positions 2 and 3 of the beta-D-glucosyl ester moiety have both been converted to the corresponding beta-D-glucoside. Found in very low concentraitions in the leaves of Stevia Rebaudiana, it is more than 200 times sweeter than sucrose. It has a role as a sweetening agent. It is a beta-D-glucoside, a tetracyclic diterpenoid and a rebaudioside. It is functionally related to a rebaudioside A, a rebaudioside D and a beta-D-Glcp-(1->2)-[beta-D-Glcp-(1->3)]-beta-D-Glcp.