GENETICS OF SWEET TASTE PERCEPTION

描述（由申请人提供）：动物对甜味化合物的检测能力和天生的喜好可能是为了确保足够的卡路里和其他营养物质的摄入而产生的。然而，人类对某些甜物质的过量摄入与许多健康疾病有关。尽管最近取得了很大进展，但甜味剂的检测和摄入调节机制仍不清楚。在这个项目中，我们主要采用近亲繁殖的小鼠作为模型系统，我们使用行为、生理和分子生物学技术来进一步了解调节甜味剂感知和摄入的因素。最近，我们将一个基因位点Sac精确定位到小鼠远端4号染色体的一个小区域，我们和其他研究人员现在已经确定了一个编码甜味受体的基因。然而，许多证据表明，其他可能指定额外受体、传导元件或中枢神经系统结构的基因一定参与了决定甜味感知、偏好和摄入量的过程。在项目期间，我们将使用许多工具，其中一些是新获得的，来定位并最终确定在调节甜味剂的感知和摄入方面重要的新基因。这项工作的结果将进一步了解甜味感知，味觉和感觉生物学。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The ability to detect, and the innate liking for, sweet-tasting compounds presumably arose in animals to insure an adequate intake of calories and other nutrients. However, excess consumption of some sweet substances by humans has been implicated in a number of health disorders. The mechanisms by which sweeteners are detected and their intake regulated remain unclear although much progress has recently been made. In this project, primarily employing the inbred mouse as a model system, we use behavioral, physiological and molecular biological techniques to further our understanding of factors regulating sweetener perception and ingestion. Recently, we fine-mapped one genetic locus, Sac, to a small region of mouse distal chromosome 4 where we and other investigators have now identified a gene that codes for a sweet receptor. Yet a number of lines of evidence indicate that other genes that may specify additional receptors, transductive elements or central nervous system structures must be involved in determining sweet taste perception, preference and intake. During the project period, we will use a number of tools, some of them newly available, to locate and eventually identify novel genes important in regulating perception and intake of sweeteners. The results of this work will further understanding of sweetness perception, the sense of taste, and sensory biology.