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Post-Genome Biology of Primates Focusing on Taste Perception

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Post-Genome Biology of Primates

Part of the book series: Primatology Monographs ((PrimMono))

Abstract

There are many studies on the feeding behavior of primates as related to their environment. However, it has remained unclear how they taste and select specific foods. In this chapter, we introduce recent progress in the molecular biology of taste receptors, as one of the targets of post-genome biology, mainly focusing on humans and chimpanzees. Because there are many intraspecies polymorphisms as well as species-specific changes in amino acid sequences of taste receptors, analyzing these variations in combination with behavioral tests and meta-genome ecology will provide clues for elucidating how primates taste and select specific foods. This approach could also be applicable for elucidating the function of other species-specific or polymorphic genes found among the vast sequence data produced by genome projects.

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Abbreviations

AceK:

Acesulfame K

bp:

Base pair

CL:

Cytoplasmic loop

EL:

Extracellular loop

GMP:

Guanosine-5′-monophosphate

IMP:

Inosine-5′-monophosphate

indels:

Insertions/deletions

MSG:

Monosodium glutamate

ORFs:

Open reading frames

PTC:

Phenylthiocarbamide

SNPs:

Single nucleotide polymorphisms

TM:

Transmembrane

TRCs:

Taste receptor cells

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Acknowledgments

We thank Dr. E. Nakajima for English correction, and the Great Ape Information Network (GAIN) for the information of individual chimpanzees. Our work described here was financially supported by global COE program A06 and by Grants-in-Aid from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan (20657044, 21370109, and 22247036), Environment Research and Technology Development Fund (D-1007) of the Ministry of the Environment, Japan, and grants from the Takeda Foundation for Science and the Suzuken Memorial Foundation to H.I.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, 41-2 Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Tohru Sugawara & Hiroo Imai

  2. Department of Reproductive Biology, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, 2-10-1 Okura, Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, 157-8535, Japan

    Tohru Sugawara

Authors
  1. Tohru Sugawara
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  2. Hiroo Imai
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Correspondence to Hiroo Imai .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin 41-2, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Hirohisa Hirai

  2. Department of Cellular and Molecular Bio., Inuyama, 484-8506, Japan

    Hiroo Imai

  3. Kyoto University, Primates Research Institute, Kanbayashi, Inuyama, 484-8506, Aichi, Japan

    Yasuhiro Go

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Sugawara, T., Imai, H. (2012). Post-Genome Biology of Primates Focusing on Taste Perception. In: Hirai, H., Imai, H., Go, Y. (eds) Post-Genome Biology of Primates. Primatology Monographs. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54011-3_6

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