Establishment of a novel bitter taste sensor and screening of bitter taste inhibitor

Research Project

Project/Area Number	25750028
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Multi-year Fund
Research Field	Eating habits
Research Institution	Takasaki University of Health and Welfare
Principal Investigator	NAGAI Toshitada 高崎健康福祉大学, 健康福祉学部, 講師 (50451844)
Project Period (FY)	2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2014)
Budget Amount *help	¥3,770,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥870,000) Fiscal Year 2014: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2013: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
Keywords	味覚受容体 / Gタンパク質共役型受容体 / セルベースアッセイ / 苦味受容体 / 苦味抑制物質
Outline of Final Research Achievements	I tried to establish a novel bitter taste sensor using common measuring instruments such as plate readers, with TGFα shedding assay technology in the study of Inoue et al. At first, it needed to be investigate whether this assay was applicable to bitter taste receptors. So hTAS2R16 and hTAS2R38 bitter taste receptors, which was found to be inhibited by acidic compounds, was assayed with this method. After various trial, cells expressing hTAS2R16 significantly responded to its ligand, salicin, but that response was very weak. In future, it is necessary to improve response strength and to apply other bitter taste receptors.