The Molecular Biology of Taste

在动物界，味觉是化学感觉输入的一种主要形式。味觉不仅负责对各种食物来源的吸引和排斥，而且还提供有关化学环境的重要信息。我们的长期目标是确定协调味觉受体细胞对其同源配体的反应所需的成分，并帮助阐明味觉编码的逻辑。这项资助的重点是识别味觉信号分子。我们将：(1)生成单细胞文库，进行差异筛选，并使用减法方法鉴定味觉受体细胞亚群中表达的基因。这些研究将使用从小鼠中分离出来的基因标记细胞，在特定的味觉受体细胞亚群中表达荧光报告细胞。(2)建立异源表达系统(a)检测味觉受体功能，(b)功能性克隆新的受体和下游信号分子。我们还将分离和表征受体运输和成熟所需的“辅助”蛋白质。最后，(3)我们将尝试在sac、soa、rua和qui突变株中鉴定导致味觉缺陷的基因。

The sense of taste is a major form of chemosensory input in the animal kingdom. Taste perception is responsible not only for attraction and repulsion to various food sources, but also for providing important information about the chemical environment. Our long-term goal is to define the components required for orchestrating the response of a taste receptor cell to its cognate ligands, and to help elucidate the logic of taste coding. This grant focuses on the identification of taste signaling molecules. We will: (1) Generate single cell libraries, perform differential screens and use subtraction approaches to identify genes expressed in subsets of taste receptor cells. These studies will use genetically marked cells isolated from mice expressing fluorescent reporters in defined subsets of taste receptor cells. (2) Develop heterologous expression system to (a) assay taste receptor function, and (b) to functionally clone novel receptors and downstream signaling molecules. We will also isolate and characterize "accessory" proteins required for receptor trafficking and maturation. Finally, (3) we will attempt to identify the genes responsible for taste defects in the sac, soa, rua and qui mutant strains.