Screening for gut microbiota-derived metabolites that activate bitter taste receptors

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K15047
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General pharmacology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Morita Hiroyuki 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 講師 (60323573)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): IKEDA Yuichi 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任准教授 (10744419) ; KUMAGAI Hidetoshi 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 特任助教 (20281008)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 苦味受容体 / Gタンパク質共役型受容体 / 常在性腸内細菌叢 / 低分子代謝産物

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study is being conducted to identify gut microbiota-derived metabolites that activate bitter taste receptors expressed in host intestinal epithelium. Utilizing the salicin-T2R16 axis as a model, we first established a novel assay system for this purpose. HEK293T cells transiently transfected with T2R16, G16/gust44 and NFAT-luciferase reporter were stimulated with salicin. Dose-dependent activation of NFAT-reporter was successfully observed, suggesting that this assay system can be applied to other bitter taste receptors. The actual metabolite screening using this assay is currently in progress.

Free Research Field

内科学、ゲノム医学、分子生物学