Expression of the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNQ1 in mammalian taste bud cells and the effect of its null-mutation on taste preferences.

ABSTRACT: Vertebrate taste buds undergo continual cell turnover. To understand how the gustatory progenitor cells in the stratified lingual epithelium migrate and differentiate into different types of mature taste cells, we sought to identify genes that were selectively expressed in taste cells at different maturation stages. Here we report the expression of the voltage-gated potassium channel KCNQ1 in mammalian taste buds of mouse, rat, and human. Immunohistochemistry and nuclear staining showed that nearly all rodent and human taste cells express this channel. Double immunostaining with antibodies against type II and III taste cell markers validated the presence of KCNQ1 in these two types of cells. Co-localization studies with cytokeratin 14 indicated that KCNQ1 is also expressed in type IV basal

SUBMITTER: Wang H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2734193 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature