Analyses of sweet receptor gene (Tas1r2) and preference for sweet stimuli in species of Carnivora.

ABSTRACT: The extent to which taste receptor specificity correlates with, or even predicts, diet choice is not known. We recently reported that the insensitivity to sweeteners shown by species of Felidae can be explained by their lacking of a functional Tas1r2 gene. To broaden our understanding of the relationship between the structure of the sweet receptors and preference for sugars and artificial sweeteners, we measured responses to 12 sweeteners in 6 species of Carnivora and sequenced the coding regions of Tas1r2 in these same or closely related species. The lion showed no preference for any of the 12 sweet compounds tested, and it possesses the pseudogenized Tas1r2. All other species preferred some of the natural sugars, and their Tas1r2 sequences, having complete open reading frames, predict fu

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3307064 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul-Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature