@article {1784,
	title = {T2Rs function as bitter taste receptors.},
	journal = {Cell},
	volume = {100},
	year = {2000},
	month = {2000 Mar 17},
	pages = {703-11},
	abstract = {<p>Bitter taste perception provides animals with critical protection against ingestion of poisonous compounds. In the accompanying paper, we report the characterization of a large family of putative mammalian taste receptors (T2Rs). Here we use a heterologous expression system to show that specific T2Rs function as bitter taste receptors. A mouse T2R (mT2R-5) responds to the bitter tastant cycloheximide, and a human and a mouse receptor (hT2R-4 and mT2R-8) responded to denatonium and 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil. Mice strains deficient in their ability to detect cycloheximide have amino acid substitutions in the mT2R-5 gene; these changes render the receptor significantly less responsive to cycloheximide. We also expressed mT2R-5 in insect cells and demonstrate specific tastant-dependent activation of gustducin, a G protein implicated in bitter signaling. Since a single taste receptor cell expresses a large repertoire of T2Rs, these findings provide a plausible explanation for the uniform bitter taste that is evoked by many structurally unrelated toxic compounds.</p>
},
	keywords = {Afferent Pathways, Amino Acid Sequence, Animals, Calcium, Cell Line, Cell Surface, Chemoreceptor Cells, Cycloheximide, G-Protein-Coupled, Gene Expression, Humans, Inbred C57BL, Inbred DBA, Kidney, Mice, Molecular Sequence Data, Protein Synthesis Inhibitors, Quaternary Ammonium Compounds, Receptors, Recombinant Fusion Proteins, Signal Transduction, Taste, Taste Buds, Transducin, Transfection},
	issn = {0092-8674},
	author = {Chandrashekar, J and Mueller, K L and Hoon, M A and Adler, E and Feng, L and Guo, W and Zuker, C S and Ryba, N J}
}
