Determining the physiological roles of newly identified signaling pathways in mouse taste cells

味觉被所有生物体用来决定潜在的食物是否会被摄入或拒绝，并且对生物体的生存至关重要。 味觉系统由多种细胞组成，它们检测食物中的化学物质，然后向大脑发送描述该刺激的特定信号。 该项目的目标是表征最近发现的有助于检测味觉刺激的味觉细胞信号通路。 对这些信号通路的表征将有助于更好地理解味觉系统如何工作以及大脑如何收集周围环境的信息。 钙成像，分子生物学和免疫细胞化学的组合将被用来更好地了解这些最近发现的信号通路，并定义它们在发送到大脑的味觉信号形成中的生理作用。 该项目的研究结果将提高对位于舌头上的味觉感受器细胞如何检测食物中的化学物质并将这些信息转化为大脑可以理解的信号的理解。这一信息至关重要，原因有两个：1）了解如何从环境中检测到化学物质对摄食行为（包括食物摄入的调节）具有重要意义，2）有关这些神经元细胞生理学的信息将转化为更好地了解信号通路如何在所有神经元中发挥作用。 该项目的广泛影响包括为包括少数民族和妇女在内的多名研究生和本科生提供研究和培训机会。 学生将接受分子生物学和免疫细胞化学技术以及活细胞钙成像和味觉细胞膜片钳分析的培训。 这些技能将为学生提供使用多方面方法回答研究问题的能力（无论是在味觉领域还是其他地方）。

The sense of taste is used by all organisms to determine whether potential food items will be ingested or rejected and is critical for an organism's survival. The taste system is made up of multiple cell types that detect chemicals in food and then send a specific signal describing that stimulus to the brain. The goal of this project is to characterize recently identified signaling pathway in taste cells that contributes to the detection of taste stimuli. Characterization of these signaling pathways will provide a better understanding of how the taste system works and how the brain gathers information about its surroundings. A combination of calcium imaging, molecular biology, and immunocytochemistry will be used to better understand these recently identified signaling pathways and define their physiological role in the formation of taste signals that are sent to the brain. The findings that emerge from this project will improve understanding of how taste receptor cells that are located on the tongue can detect chemicals in food and translate that information into a signal that the brain can understand. This information is critical for two reasons: 1) understanding how chemicals are detected from the environment has important implications in feeding behaviors including the regulation of food intake, and 2) information about the physiology of these neuronal cells will translate into a better understanding of how signaling pathways function in all neurons. This broader impacts of this project include provision of research and training opportunities for multiple graduate and undergraduate students, including both minorities and women. Students will be trained in molecular biology and immunocytochemical techniques as well as live cell calcium imaging and patch clamp analysis of taste cells. These skills will provide students with the ability to answer research questions (either in the taste field or elsewhere) using a multi-faceted approach.