Background
“Mammals are believed to have five basic taste modalities: sweet, bitter, sour,
salty, and umami (the taste of monosodium glutamate).” Specification, page 1. “Each
taste modality is believed to be mediated by distinct transduction pathways. These
pathways are believed to be mediated by receptors . . . expressed in subsets of taste
receptor cells.” Id.
The specification discloses a “family of G Protein-Coupled Receptors . . . thought
to be primarily involved in bitter taste transduction.” Page 4. The family of proteins is
known as the “T2R” family; the nucleic acid sequence of human T2R61 is shown in the
specification’s SEQ ID NO:7 and the encoded amino acid sequence is shown in SEQ ID
NO:8.
The specification discloses that T2R proteins are useful for, among other things,
“screening for modulators, e.g., activators, inhibitors, stimulators, agonist, and
antagonists, of these novel taste-cell-specific GPCRs. . . . These methods of screening
can be used to identify high affinity agonists and antagonists of taste cell activity. These
modulatory compounds can then be used in the food and pharmaceutical industries to
customize taste, for example, to decrease or mask the bitter taste of food or drugs.”
Page 9. See also page 3: “Such taste modulating compounds could be useful in the
pharmaceutical and food industries to improve the taste of a variety of consumer
products, or to block undesirable tastes, e.g., bitter tastes, in certain products.”
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Last modified: November 3, 2007