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Bitter Taste Receptors and Their Cells
Author(s) -
Behrens Maik,
Reichling Claudia,
Batram Claudia,
Brockhoff Anne,
Meyerhof Wolfgang
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.03897.x
Subject(s) - bitter taste , taste , receptor , gpr120 , gene , taste receptor , biology , perception , g protein coupled receptor , biochemistry , computational biology , neuroscience
The molecular basis of human bitter taste perception is an area of intense research. Only 25 G protein‐coupled receptors belonging to the hTAS2R gene family face the challenge to detect thousands of structurally different bitter compounds, most of which are plant metabolites. Since many natural bitter compounds are highly toxic, whereas others are part of our daily diets, bitter taste was crucial during evolution and still most likely affects our food selection. The article presented here addresses biosynthesis, functional analyses of TAS2Rs and TAS2R variants, as well as gustatory expression of hTAS2R genes.