A study published in Cell Reports Physical Science describes a biosynthetic route to tagatose developed by Tufts researchers. Tagatose is a rare sugar found only in minute amounts in some dairy products and fruits, which makes extraction impractical; it is therefore usually manufactured. The team engineered Escherichia coli to convert abundant glucose into tagatose by introducing a slime mold enzyme, galactose‑1‑phosphate‑selective phosphatase (Gal1P), alongside arabinose isomerase.
The key innovation was the Gal1P enzyme, which effectively reversed a natural pathway and enabled synthesis from glucose rather than from costly galactose feedstock. The bacterial process can yield tagatose from glucose at up to 95%, higher than conventional manufacturing yields reported for other methods.
Tagatose is roughly 92% as sweet as sucrose and has about 60% fewer calories. The FDA has designated it "generally recognized as safe." Because it is only partially absorbed in the small intestine and much is fermented by gut bacteria in the colon, its effect on blood glucose and insulin is much lower than conventional sugar, and clinical studies report very low increases in plasma glucose or insulin. Evidence also indicates reduced growth of some cavity‑causing oral bacteria and possible probiotic effects. As a bulk sweetener, tagatose can replace sugar in recipes, provide similar texture and brown like table sugar.
- Study published in Cell Reports Physical Science.
- Tufts researchers engineered E. coli to produce tagatose.
- Used Gal1P (slime mold) and arabinose isomerase enzymes.
- Higher yields and potential economic advantages over older methods.
Difficult words
- tagatose — a rare sugar used as a low‑calorie sweetener
- biosynthetic — produced by biological or engineered processes
- phosphatase — enzyme that removes a phosphate group from molecules
- engineer — change an organism's genes to give new traitsengineered
- yield — amount of product produced from a process
- feedstock — raw material used to produce chemicals or goods
- ferment — break down substances by microbes, often producing gasesfermented
- probiotic — live microorganisms that can benefit the host's health
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Discussion questions
- What economic effects might higher production yields of tagatose have for food manufacturers and consumers?
- How could replacing table sugar with tagatose in everyday recipes change people's diets or health?
- What potential risks or limitations should be considered before using tagatose widely as a common sweetener?
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