Discovery of bitter-taste gene is sweet. (Biology).Variations in a gene on chromosome 7 seem to explain why people can differ in their sensitivity to bitter substances. The capability to sense bitterness may have evolved because it keeps animals from eating harmful plants. "We have a sense of bitter taste to protect us from ingesting toxic substances," says Dennis Drayna of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), a member of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, is mandated to conduct and support biomedical and behavioral research and research training in the normal and disordered processes of hearing, balance, in Bethesda, Md. For decades, taste researchers have used a chemical called phenylthiocarbamide phen·yl·thi·o·car·ba·mide n. Abbr. PTC A crystalline compound, C6H5NHCSNH2, that tastes intensely bitter to people with a specific dominant gene and is used to test for the presence of the gene. (PTC (PTC, Needham, MA, www.ptc.com) Long a world leader in mechanical computer-aided design, manufacturing and engineering software, PTC, through acquisitions and reorganization, has transformed itself into a leading provider of Internet-based B2B solutions for discrete manufacturers. ) to assay a person's capability to sense a bitter taste. About 70 percent of people find PTC intensely bitter, but the rest can barely taste it. Scientists know that this difference in sensitivity is inherited inherited received by inheritance. inherited achondroplastic dwarfism see achondroplastic dwarfism. inherited combined immunodeficiency see combined immune deficiency syndrome (disease). , but they've struggled to find the gene or genes responsible. In the Feb. 21 Science, Drayna and his colleagues pinpoint a single crucial gene they discovered by studying large families in Utah. The gene encodes a protein that is a component of a known bitter-taste receptor in taste buds taste buds taste npl → Geschmacksknospen pl . Drayna's group found that family members who could sense PTC had a different version of the gene from those who couldn't sense the chemical. Other researchers testing people with a different chemical have argued that some people are extraordinarily sensitive to bitter substances. These so-called supertasters may risk certain diseases because they avoid eating vegetables, the scientists theorize the·o·rize v. the·o·rized, the·o·riz·ing, the·o·riz·es v.intr. To formulate theories or a theory; speculate. v.tr. To propose a theory about. (SN: 7/12/97, p. 24; SN: 3/1/03, p. 142). Drayna isn't convinced that supertasters exist, but he plans to investigate whether the gene variants his group identified can help resolve that issue. |
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