Molecular mechanisms of adaptive evolution in primate taste receptors

苦味是由属于G蛋白偶联受体的T2R基因介导的。我们研究了黑猩猩和日本猕猴T2R功能基因的种内变异，发现它们具有高度的核苷酸多样性和大量的氨基酸替换。这些趋势导致在灵长类种群和杂合子个体中出现各种不同的T2Rs等位基因，这些杂合子个体可能有能力品尝更广泛的物质。此外，我们还揭示了PTC敏感性的表型多态是由人、黑猩猩和猕猴中T2R38的独立突变引起的。

Bitter taste is mediated by T2R genes, which belong to the G protein-coupled receptors. We investigated the intraspecies variations of functional T2R genes in chimpanzees and Japanese macaques, and found that they showed high nucleotide diversity along with a large number of amino acid substitutions. These trends result in the occurrence of various divergent alleles of T2Rs within the primate populations and in heterozygous individuals who might have the ability to taste a broader range of substances. In addition, we revealed that phenotypic polymorphism of sensitivity to PTC was caused by the independent mutations of T2R38 in humans, chimpanzees and macaques.