Sweet Successes

Mapping of the chromosomal location of genes essential for sweet and bitter taste and identification of the relevant G protein-coupled receptors reveals unanticipated complexity in taste signaling pathways. The distribution of sweet and bitter receptors suggests complete cellular segregation of these taste modalities. Sweet compounds may be distinguished through differential expression of sweet receptors. Novel heterologous expression systems to test bitter and sweet modalities now provide the tools necessary for understanding taste coding.