Sweet sorrow.While most animals savor sweet-tasting foods, cats generally shun sugary treats. A new study shows why: The sugar detectors on their taste buds taste buds taste npl → Geschmacksknospen pl don't work. The cells in taste buds have tiny structures that detect chemical signals in foods. These receptors help animals--including humans--to distinguish a sugary snack from a salty treat. The sweet detectors develop according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. directions received from a gene, or a unit of hereditary material that's made of the chemical DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. . Joe Brand, a biophysicist bi·o·phys·ics n. (used with a sing. verb) The science that deals with the application of physics to biological processes and phenomena. bi at the Monell Chemical Senses Center This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. in Philadelphia, and colleagues analyzed the genes that make cats' sweet-detecting receptors. They found that one of the genes was missing a chunk of DNA. Poor kitty. Without the instructions held in the missing DNA, the gene can't cause the sweet detectors to develop and cats can't taste sugary flavors. House cats, tigers, and cheetahs share this trait. Still, some cats purr for sweets. They may enjoy the food's texture, says Brand. |
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