Mammalian sweet taste receptors

The sense of taste provides animals with valuable information about the qua lity and nutritional value of food. Previously, we identified a large famil y of mammalian taste receptors involved in bitter taste perception (the T2R s). We now report the characterization of mammalian sweet taste receptors. First, transgenic rescue experiments prove that the Sac locus encodes T1R3, a member of the T1R family of candidate taste receptors. Second, using a h eterologous expression system, we demonstrate that T1R2 and T1R3 combine to function as a sweet receptor, recognizing sweet-tasting molecules as diver se as sucrose, saccharin, dulcin, and acesulfame-K. Finally, we present a d etailed analysis of the patterns of expression of T1Rs and T2Rs, thus provi ding a view of the representation of sweet and bitter taste at the peripher y.