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Molecular mechanisms of human fat taste perception
Project
Project code: keine Angaben
Contract period: 01.01.2009
- 31.12.2012
Purpose of research: Applied research
The objective of this sub-project was to investigate the molecular mechanisms
underlying human taste perception of fat, in order to characterize the multifactorial
flavor evoked by fats in cooperation with other cluster participants. Besides
carbohydrates and proteins, fats are the main energy providing food components
and are considered as one of the main riskfactors for the development of
obesity and related diseases in industrialized countries. Risk-lowering strategies
including the reduction of fat contents in dietary products did not succeed so far
because consumers were left with unsatisfying taste impressions.
For a long time the recognition of fat was believed to rely mostly on textural, olfactory
and post-ingestive cues. However, during the recent years research performed
in rodent models revealed an additional gustatory component for the
detection of, in particular, long-chain fatty acids. In contrast to this, much less is
known about fat taste perception in humans. In agreement with the above mentioned
rodent studies, sensory studies performed by the group of Prof. Hofmann
(sub-project 6 A) revealed long-chain fatty acids as predominant fat taste stimuli
also for human individuals.
Therefore, we screened candidate fatty acid receptors in in vitro expression
studies to correlate their pharmacological properties with the sensory results.
It turned out that the pharmacological characteristics of the long-chain fatty
acid receptors GPR40 and GPR120 are well correlated with the sensory properties
assessed in sub-project 6 A. Especially the activation pattern of GPR120
matched specifically the “fatty” sensation elicited by long-chain fatty acids in
sensory studies
and is not responsible for the “scratchy” sensation of fatty acids
and their alcohols. Further, we analyzed different human taste tissues and found
the GPR120 receptor expressed in circumvallate and fungiform papillae. The receptor’s
messenger (m)RNA and protein indeed were localized in taste bud cells
as well as surrounding tongue epithelium. We demonstrated that a short splice
variant, but not the long variant of GPR120, is expressed in taste tissue. We could
also show that this variant is able to couple to different G-Proteins, among them
Gustducin, which tranduces signals in taste cells.
Consequently, the results of this project show that GPR120 indeed represents
one of the receptor participating likely in human gustatory fatty acid perception.
In the future this knowledge should help to design better acceptable low-fat
foods.
Section overview
Subjects
- Physiology of Nutrition
- Food Chemistry
- Nutritional behaviour
Collaborative Project
Saturated fat perception and regulation: approach to the development of reduced-fat foods
Funding programme
Excutive institution
German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbrücke (DIfE)
