Functional characterization of human bitter taste receptors

Abstract

The T2Rs belong to a multi-gene family of G-protein-coupled receptors responsible for the detection of ingested bitter-tasting compounds. The T2Rs are conserved among mammals with the human and mouse gene families consisting of about 25 members. In the present study we address the signalling properties of human and mouse T2Rs using an in vitro reconstitution system in which both the ligands and G-proteins being assayed can be manipulated independently and quantitatively assessed. We confirm that the mT2R5, hT2R43 and hT2R47 receptors respond selectively to micromolar concentrations of cycloheximide, aristolochic acid and denatonium respectively. We also demonstrate that hT2R14 is a receptor for aristolochic acid and report the first characterization of the ligand specificities of hT2R7, which is a broadly tuned receptor responding to strychnine, quinacrine, chloroquine and papaverine. Using these defined ligand–receptor interactions, we assayed the ability of the ligand-activated T2Rs to catalyse GTP binding on divergent members of the Gα family including three members of the Gαi subfamily (transducin, Gαi1 and Gαo) as well as Gαs and Gαq. The T2Rs coupled with each of the three Gαi members tested. However, none of the T2Rs coupled to either Gαs or Gαq, suggesting the T2Rs signal primarily through Gαi-mediated signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, we observed different G-protein selectivities among the T2Rs with respect to both Gαi subunits and Gβγ dimers, suggesting that bitter taste is transduced by multiple G-proteins that may differ among the T2Rs.