Description of Invention:
The complexity of taste discrimination (salty, sour, sweet, umami and bitter) varies between human individuals and populations. Sweet and umami (the taste of glutamate) tastes play a major role in the perception of calorically-rich and essential nutrients and there are well-documented differences in individual perception of sweet and umami flavorings, many of which appear to be genetic in origin. Studies of individuals within and between populations that vary in any of the taste receptors should be of direct interest to the multi-billion dollar food and flavoring industry as the characterization of such variants could be used to aid in the development of a variety of taste improvements in foods and orally administered medications. NIH researchers previously characterized bitter taste receptor variants in world wide populations [Human Mutation 26, 199-204; HHS Ref. No. E-222-2003/0] and have now extended their studies to the sweet and umami receptors in global populations.
The group of Dr. Dennis Drayna at NIDCD have now discovered novel coding sequence polymorphisms in the human TAS1R genes. These genes encode dimeric receptors that sense sweet taste (as TAS1R2+TAS1R3) and the taste of umami (as TAS1R1+TAS1R3). To achieve maximum genetic diversity, TAS1R receptors from a panel of 30 Europeans, 20 East Asian, 10 Native Americans, 8 South Asians and 20 sub-Saharan Africans were sequenced. Approximately 60% of the identified SNPs caused an amino acid substitution in the encoded receptor protein. This variation may account for individual preferences in sweet and umami tastes in foods and could be of use in the understanding and control of dietary preferences that lead to obesity and diabetes.
These novel variants and methods of use are available for licensing and should be of particular use to those using sensorial analysis in the food and flavoring industry where the use of taster panels in the development of flavors and flavor enhancers for different foods is key to the development of new food products and taste masking compounds. The ability, for example, to genetically match taster individuals employed by industry with the target consumer populations can both guide improved formulations and marketing decisions as well as reducing the total sample size in the testing of new products in this highly competitive industry.
Inventors:
Dennis Drayna and Un-Kyung Kim (NIDCD)
Patent Status:
DHHS Reference No. E-099-2005/0 --
U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/671,173 filed 13 Apr 2005
PCT Application No. PCT/US2006/014045 filed 13 Apr 2006, which published as WO 2006/113422 on 26 Oct 2006
U.S. Patent Application No. 11/911,517 filed 12 Oct 2007
Related Technologies: DHHS Reference No. E-169-2001/0 -- Phenylthiocarbamide Taste Receptor
U.S. Patent No. 7,314,725 issued 01 Jan 2008 U.S. Patent Application No. 11/871,131 filed 11 Oct 2007
DHHS Reference No. E-222-2003/1 -- Haplotypes of Human Bitter Taste Receptor Genes
PCT International Application No. PCT/US2004/019489 filed 18 Jun 2004 (priority date 19 Jun 2003), which published as WO 2005/007891 on 27 Jan 2005, and global IP
U.S. Patent Application No. 10/561,487 filed 19 Dec 2005
Licensing Status: In addition to licensing, the technology is available for further development through collaborative research opportunities with the inventors.
Portfolios: Miscellaneous Internal Medicine Devices/Instrumentation
Devices/Instrumentation-Research Materials-Methods of Using Research Tools Devices/Instrumentation-Research Materials Internal Medicine-Other Miscellaneous-Miscellaneous
For Additional Information Please Contact: Sury Vepa PhD
NIH Office of Technology Transfer
6011 Executive Blvd, Suite 325
Rockville, MD 20852-3804
Phone: 301/435-5020
Email: vepas@mail.nih.gov
Fax: 301/402-0220
