Affiliation:
1. Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich 85354 Freising Germany
2. National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders NIH Bethesda MD 20892‐2320 USA
3. Tate & Lyle PLC, 5 Marble Arch London W1H 7EJ UK
Abstract
ScopeTo avoid ingestion of potentially harmful substances, humans are equipped with about 25 bitter taste receptor genes (TAS2R) expressed in oral taste cells. Humans exhibit considerable variance in their bitter tasting abilities, which are associated with genetic polymorphisms in bitter taste receptor genes. One of these variant receptor genes, TAS2R2, is initially believed to represent a pseudogene. However, TAS2R2 exists in a putative functional variant within some populations and can therefore be considered as an additional functional bitter taste receptor.Methods and resultsTo learn more about the function of the experimentally neglected TAS2R2, a functional screening with 122 bitter compounds is performed. The study observes responses with eight of the 122 bitter substances and identifies the substance phenylbutazone as a unique activator of TAS2R2 among the family of TAS2Rs, thus filling one more gap in the array of cognate bitter substances.ConclusionsThe comprehensive characterization of the receptive range of TAS2R2 allows the classification into the group of TAS2Rs with a medium number of bitter agonists. The variability of bitter taste and its potential influences on food choice in some human populations may be even higher than assumed.
Subject
Food Science,Biotechnology
Cited by
3 articles.
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