The genetics of tasting in mice: VI. Saccharin, acesulfame, dulcin and sucrose

Abstract

Twenty-six strains of mice were tested for their reaction to four different sweet substances; saccharin, acesulfame, dulcin and sucrose. There was considerable strain variation in the degree to which they found the sweet substances preferable to water. The variation in preference for any one sweet substance is very highly correlated with the variation in preference for the other sweet substances. This is interpreted to mean that there is only one sweetness receptor, although an alternative explanation in terms of variation in psychological motivation is not discounted. The difference between C57BL/6Ty and DBA/2Ty is largely due to a single gene, Sac.

Ethanol Consumption and Taste Preferences in C57BL/6ByJ and 129/J Mice

“…Our finding that ethanol intake was higher in B6 than 129 mice is consistent with earlier results. 5 Consistent with our finding of a difference between the two strains in sucrose intake, there is evidence that B6 mice have higher intakes than do 129 mice of several sweet compounds, including sucrose, 10 saccharin, 5,10-12 acesulfame, dulcin, 10 glycine, 13 d-phenylalanine, and l-glutamine. 12 A positive relationship between alcohol intake and sweet solution intake has also been found among other inbred strains of mice 5 and rats, 3,4 and within F 2 hybrids from ethanolpreferring and ethanol-nonpreferring rat strains.…”

“…Although there still may have been interactions between solutions tested in this study, it seems unlikely that they would be sufficiently robust to affect the main conclusions about the direction of strain differences between B6 and 129 strains. Indeed, in our other experiments on these strains, 9,20,30 as well as in studies by other authors, 5,8,[10][11][12]15 B6 and 129 mice had the same character of differences in ethanol, sucrose, saccharin, citric acid, quinine, and NaCl consumption, regardless of whether the solutions were tested in the same or in different groups of animals.…”

“…Although there still may have been interactions between solutions tested in this study, it seems unlikely that they would be sufficiently robust to affect the main conclusions about the direction of strain differences between B6 and 129 strains. Indeed, in our other experiments on these strains, 9,20,30 as well as in studies by other authors, 5,8,[10][11][12]15 B6 and 129 mice had the same character of differences in ethanol, sucrose, saccharin, citric acid, quinine, and NaCl consumption, regardless of whether the solutions were tested in the same or in different groups of animals.To summarize, the higher ethanol consumption of B6 mice relative to 129 mice is accompanied by higher preferences for sweet and sour, possible reduction in the aversion to bitter, no change in capsaicin sensitivity, and a lower preference for salty taste. These data are consistent with the hypothesis that the higher ethanol intake by B6 mice depends, in part, on higher hedonic attractiveness of its sweet taste component.…”

Polymorphisms in the Taste Receptor Gene (Tas1r3) Region Are Associated with Saccharin Preference in 30 Mouse Strains

“…Fuller (1974) demonstrated that most of the differences in saccharin preferences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J strains depend on a single locus, Sac, with the dominant Sac b allele present in the C57BL/6J strain. Subsequent studies confirmed this finding in the BXD recombinant inbred strains, in crosses between the C57BL/6 and DBA/2 strains (Lush, 1989;Belknap et al, 1992;Phillips et al, 1994;Lush et al, 1995;Blizard et al, 1999) and in crosses between the C57BL/6ByJ and 129P3/J strains (Bachmanov et al, 1997). The Sac locus has been mapped to the subtelomeric region of mouse chromosome 4 (Phillips et al, 1994;Lush et al, 1995;Bachmanov et al, 1997;Blizard et al, 1999;Li et al, 2001) and more recently has been cloned positionally .…”

“…Mouse strains differ in their avidity to consume sweet solutions (Pelz et al, 1973;Stockton and Whitney, 1974;Ramirez and Fuller, 1976;Lush, 1989). Fuller (1974) demonstrated that most of the differences in saccharin preferences between C57BL/6J and DBA/2J strains depend on a single locus, Sac, with the dominant Sac b allele present in the C57BL/6J strain.…”