Human receptors for sweet and umami taste

doi:10.1073/pnas.072090199

Human receptors for sweet and umami taste

^*Senomyx, Inc., 11099 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037; and ^†Aurora Biosciences Corporation, 11010 Torreyana Road, San Diego, CA 92121

Communicated by Henry R. Bourne, University of California, San Francisco, CA (received for review December 5, 2001)

Abstract

The three members of the T1R class of taste-specific G protein-coupled receptors have been hypothesized to function in combination as heterodimeric sweet taste receptors. Here we show that human T1R2/T1R3 recognizes diverse natural and synthetic sweeteners. In contrast, human T1R1/T1R3 responds to the umami taste stimulus l-glutamate, and this response is enhanced by 5′-ribonucleotides, a hallmark of umami taste. The ligand specificities of rat T1R2/T1R3 and T1R1/T1R3 correspond to those of their human counterparts. These findings implicate the T1Rs in umami taste and suggest that sweet and umami taste receptors share a common subunit.

Footnotes

↵ ‡ To whom reprint requests should be addressed. E-mail: elliot.adler{at}senomyx.com.
Data deposition: The sequences reported in this paper have been deposited in the GenBank database (accession nos.: human T1R1, BK000153; human T1R2, BK000151; human T1R3, BK000152; and rat T1R3, AF456324).