Clyne P J, Warr C G, Carlson J R
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, Post Office Box 208103, New Haven, CT 06520-8103, USA.
Science. 2000 Mar 10;287(5459):1830-4. 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.
关于动物味觉感知的分子机制，尤其是味觉信号传导的初始事件，人们了解甚少。利用一种基于结构识别蛋白质的计算机算法，从果蝇基因组数据库中鉴定出了一个庞大且多样的七跨膜结构域蛋白家族。在所检测的19个基因中，有18个在果蝇唇叶（喙的味觉器官）中表达。在多种其他组织中未检测到表达。这些基因在果蝇突变体pox-neuro70的唇叶中不表达，在该突变体中味觉神经元被消除。这些基因表达的组织特异性及其结构相似性，支持了该家族编码一个庞大且多样化的味觉受体家族的可能性。
