Mutational polymorphism in the TAS2R38 bitter taste receptor is a key determinant of threshold taste detection of isolated compounds, such as phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and propylthiouracil (PROP), as well as complex orosensation-mediated traits such as diet choice and smoking habits. These relationships are accounted for, in part, by 2 common alleles differing in functionality, TAS2R38-PAV and ...

Mammalian type 2 taste receptors (T2R) are a family of G protein-coupled receptors that mediate bitter signals in taste cells. In the present study, we compared the genomic organization of rodent T2R genes based on the recently completed mouse and rat genomes and examined tissue- and cell-specific expression of T2Rs. Both mouse and rat T2R families consist of 36 intact genes and at least 7 pseu...

The bitter taste receptor T2R38 has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), where the receptor functions to enhance upper respiratory innate immunity through a triad of beneficial immune responses. Individuals with a functional version of T2R38 are tasters for the bitter compound phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) and exhibit an anti-microbial response in the upper...

Once a specialized cell has expressed its cell-type-specific genes, it and its daughter cells in general do not change to another cell type. However, a clear exception to this rule is observed in the process of lens regeneration in newt. New lens cells are transdifferentiated from pigmented epithelial cells (PECs) of dorsal margin of iris. Such dramatic change of phenotype from pigment cells to...

The idea that a person’s genetic constitution is allimportant and that genetic knowledge is sufficiently advanced so that we can make judgments on our past or future health was called geneticism by Medawar.1 He termed geneticism as the application to the human condition of a genetic knowledge or understanding that is assumed to be very much greater than it really is. Proponents of geneticism ha...

Bitter taste stimuli are detected by a diverse family of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) expressed in gustatory cells. Each bitter taste receptor (TAS2R) responds to an array of compounds, many of which are toxic and can be found in nature. For example, human TAS2R16 (hTAS2R16) responds to β-glucosides such as salicin, and hTAS2R38 responds to thiourea-containing molecules such as glucosino...

The effects of prostaglandins (PGs) on the Cloudman S91 melanoma CCL 53.1 cell line indicate that melanogenesis and proliferation are regulated by separate mechanisms that are not necessarily cyclic AMP (cAMP) dependent. These cells responded to PGE1 and PGE2 in a dose-dependent manner, by an increase of tyrosinase activity and by inhibition of proliferation. PGA1 and PGD2 inhibited cellular pr...

A series of neutral N-(substituted-benzamido)-N'-phenylthioureas (substituent = p-OC(2)H(5), p-CH(3), m-CH(3), H, p-Cl, p-Br, m-Cl, and p-NO(2)) were designed as anion receptors, in which the thiourea binding site was attached to the benzamido moiety via an N-N bond. The absorption spectra of these N-benzamidothioureas in acetonitrile peaked at ca. 270 nm were found to show unprecedented red sh...