Sour Ageusia in Two Individuals Implicates Ion Channels of the ASIC and PKD Families in Human Sour Taste Perception at the Anterior Tongue

Huque, Taufiqul; Cowart, Beverly J.; Dankulich-Nagrudny, Luba; Pribitkin, Edmund A.; Bayley, Douglas L.; Spielman, Andrew I.; Feldman, Roy S.; Mackler, Scott A.; Brand, Joseph G.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007347

Cited by 79 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 45 publications

(61 reference statements)

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“…One candidate is the polycystic kidney disease 2-like 1 gene (Pkd2l1), which is involved in sour taste in mice 78 and possibly in humans. 79 Whether naturally occurring allelic variation in this gene is responsible for differential sour perception (in mice or humans) is not known.…”

Section: Sourness and Fermentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetics of Taste and Smell

Reed

Knaapila

2010

Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science

216

118

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Eating is dangerous. While food contains nutrients and calories that animals need to produce heat and energy, it may also contain harmful parasites, bacteria, or chemicals. To guide food selection, the senses of taste and smell have evolved to alert us to the bitter taste of poisons and the sour taste and off-putting smell of spoiled foods. These sensory systems help people and animals to eat defensively, and they provide the brake that helps them avoid ingesting foods that are harmful. But choices about which foods to eat are motivated by more than avoiding the bad; they are also motivated by seeking the good, such as fat and sugar. However, just as not everyone is equally capable of sensing toxins in food, not everyone is equally enthusiastic about consuming high-fat, high-sugar foods. Genetic studies in humans and experimental animals strongly suggest that the liking of sugar and fat is influenced by genotype; likewise, the abilities to detect bitterness and the malodors of rotting food are highly variable among individuals. Understanding the exact genes and genetic differences that affect food intake may provide important clues in obesity treatment by allowing caregivers to tailor dietary recommendations to the chemosensory landscape of each person.

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Section: Sourness and Fermentationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetics of Taste and Smell

Reed

Knaapila

2010

Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science

216

118

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“…The molecular identity of receptors sensing sour taste is still uncertain, so candidate gene association studies are difficult to interpret [75].…”

Section: Differences In Umami Sour and Salty Taste Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heritable differences in chemosensory ability among humans

Newcomb

Xia

Reed

2012

Flavour

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The combined senses of taste, smell and the common chemical sense merge to form what we call 'flavor.' People show marked differences in their ability to detect many flavors, and in this paper, we review the role of genetics underlying these differences in perception. Most of the genes identified to date encode receptors responsible for detecting tastes or odorants. We list these genes and describe their characteristics, beginning with the best-studied case, that of differences in phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) detection, encoded by variants of the bitter taste receptor gene TAS2R38. We then outline examples of genes involved in differences in sweet and umami taste, and discuss what is known about other taste qualities, including sour and salty, fat (termed pinguis), calcium, and the 'burn' of peppers. Although the repertoire of receptors involved in taste perception is relatively small, with 25 bitter and only a few sweet and umami receptors, the number of odorant receptors is much larger, with about 400 functional receptors and another 600 potential odorant receptors predicted to be non-functional. Despite this, to date, there are only a few cases of odorant receptor variants that encode differences in the perception of odors: receptors for androstenone (musky), isovaleric acid (cheesy), cis-3-hexen-1-ol (grassy), and the urinary metabolites of asparagus. A genome-wide study also implicates genes other than olfactory receptors for some individual differences in perception. Although there are only a small number of examples reported to date, there may be many more genetic variants in odor and taste genes yet to be discovered.Keywords: Flavor, Genetics, Evolution, Taste, Odor, Receptor, Polymorphism Review Why we differ in taste perceptionHumans use several kinds of information to decide what to eat, and the combination of experience and sensory evaluation helps us to choose whether to consume a particular food. If the sight, smell, and taste of the food are acceptable, and we see others enjoying it, we finish chewing and swallow it. Several senses combine to create the idea of food flavor in the brain. For example, a raw chili pepper has a crisp texture, an odor, a bitter and sour taste, and a chemesthetic 'burn.' Each of these sensory modalities is associated with a particular group of receptors: at least three subtypes of somatosensory receptors (touch, pain, and temperature), human odor receptors, which respond either singly or in combination; [1,2], at least five types of taste receptors (bitter, sour, sweet, salty, and umami (the savory experience associated with monosodium glutamate [3])), and several families of other receptors tuned to the irritating chemicals in foods, especially of herbs and spices (for example, eugenol found in cloves [4] or allicin found in garlic [5]). The information from all these receptors are transmitted to the brain, where it is processed and integrated [6]. Experience is a potent modifier of chemosensory perception, and persistent exposure to an odorant is enough to change...

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“…41,42) Genetic elimination of cells expressing PKD2L1 substantially reduces gustatory nerve responses to sour taste stimuli, suggesting that PKD2L1 expressing cells are sour sensitive taste receptor cells. 41) Patients with sour ageusia (taste blind), but not sour normal individuals, lack the expression of mRNAs for PKD1L3, PKD2L1, and ASIC subunits in the anterior part of the tongue, 43) suggesting that the PKDs and ASICs may have a role in sour taste sensation in humans. However, the in vivo function of these candidates for the sour sensation must be elucidated in future studies.…”

Section: Taste Receptors and Transduction In Taste Bud Cellsmentioning

confidence: 99%