Candidate Taste Receptors in Drosophila

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2000-03, Vol.287 (5459), p.1830-1834
• Main Authors: Clyne, Peter J., Warr, Coral G., Carlson, John R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algorithms; Alternative Splicing; Amino Acid Sequence; Anatomy; Animals; Biochemistry. Physiology. Immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Cellular biology; Chemoreceptor Cells - metabolism; Coding; Computers; Drosophila; Drosophila melanogaster - chemistry; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila melanogaster - physiology; Drosophila Proteins; Exons; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression; Genes; Genes, Insect; Genomes; Genomics; Gustatory perception; In Situ Hybridization; Insect Proteins - chemistry; Insect Proteins - genetics; Insect Proteins - physiology; Insecta; Invertebrates; labellum; Mathematics; Membrane Proteins - chemistry; Membrane Proteins - genetics; Membrane Proteins - physiology; Molecular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; Multigene Family; Neurons; Neurons, Afferent - metabolism; Open reading frames; Organ Specificity; Physiology. Development; Protein Structure, Tertiary; Proteins; Receptors; Receptors, Cell Surface - chemistry; Receptors, Cell Surface - genetics; Receptors, Cell Surface - physiology; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Sense Organs - chemistry; Sense Organs - physiology; Sequence Alignment; Sleep; Taste; Taste - physiology; Transcripts (Written Records)
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.287.5459.1830

Little is known about the molecular mechanisms of taste perception in animals, particularly the initial events of taste signaling. A large and diverse family of seven transmembrane domain proteins was identified from the Drosophila genome database with a computer algorithm that identifies proteins on the basis of structure. Eighteen of 19 genes examined were expressed in the Drosophila labellum, a gustatory organ of the proboscis. Expression was not detected in a variety of other tissues. The genes were not expressed in the labellum of a Drosophila mutant, pox-neuro70, in which taste neurons are eliminated. Tissue specificity of expression of these genes, along with their structural similarity, supports the possibility that the family encodes a large and divergent family of taste receptors.