New role for taste receptors
Bitter taste receptors could serve as endogenous sensors for bile acids


Date:
July 3, 2023
Source:
Leibniz-Institut fu"r Lebensmittel-Systembiologie an der TU Mu"nchen
Summary:
Taste receptors for bitter substances are not only found on the
tongue but also on cells outside the oral cavity. As a new study
now shows, extraoral bitter taste receptors could also serve as
endogenous sensors for bile acids. This discovery suggests that,
in addition to food components, endogenous substances may have
influenced the evolution of bitter taste receptors. Furthermore, the
study provides new approaches to explore the health effects of food
constituents in which extraoral bitter taste receptors are involved.


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FULL STORY ========================================================================== Taste receptors for bitter substances are not only found on the tongue
but also on cells outside the oral cavity. As a new study by the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at the Technical University of Munich
now shows, extraoral bitter taste receptors could also serve as endogenous sensors for bile acids.

This discovery suggests that, in addition to food components, endogenous substances may have influenced the evolution of bitter taste receptors.

Furthermore, the study provides new approaches to explore the health
effects of food constituents in which extraoral bitter taste receptors
are involved.

As taste sensors, bitter taste receptors serve to detect and avoid
potential toxins in food. Relatively recent findings also indicate
that bitter taste receptors are also found on cells of the lung, brain,
and gastrointestinal tract, and on blood and sperm cells. A fact that
suggests further, less well- studied receptor functions in the body,
especially since the human body also produces bitter substances itself.

Based on these findings, the question arises whether bitter taste
receptors evolved primarily as taste receptors or rather as endogenous
sensors interacting with endogenous bitter substances. The latter,
of course, would require that concentrations of endogenous substances
in the corresponding body fluids be sufficient to activate endogenous
bitter taste receptors on extraoral tissues and cells.

Bile acids are endogenous bitter substances Bile acids are a good
example of endogenous bitter substances and are present in various body
fluids. Therefore, a team led by Maik Behrens from the Leibniz Institute
in Freising, Germany, investigated which of the approximately 25 human
bitter taste receptor types respond to physiologically relevant bile
acid concentrations. For this purpose, the team used an established
cellular test system and combined functional experiments with molecular modeling approaches.

The eight bile acids tested included primary, secondary, tertiary,
and conjugated bile acids.

As the team shows, five bitter taste receptor types respond to the bile
acids tested. "In this context, the measured activation thresholds of the receptors matched very well the bile acid concentrations reported for
human body fluids in the literature," says Florian Ziegler, a doctoral
student at the Leibniz Institute who contributed significantly to the
study. "Moreover, we were not only able to characterize the binding
of bile acids to the bitter taste receptor TAS2R1 by modeling studies
but even reproduced the differences of experimental activity data,"
adds Antonella Di Pizio, who heads the Molecular Modeling group at the
Leibniz Institute.

Bile acids activate extraoral bitter taste receptors "Our results suggest
that there is indeed a physiological relationship between bile acids
and certain extraoral bitter taste receptors and that the latter act as endogenous sensors of bile acid levels. They also support the hypothesis
that not only external factors such as bitter food constituents have
influenced the evolution of bitter taste receptors, but also endogenous
ones," summarizes principal investigator Maik Behrens. However, further
studies are urgently needed to clarify the exact biological functions
of the extraoral receptors, the biologist continues. He adds: "Gaining a
deeper understanding of these functions could provide valuable insights
into the potential health effects of food components when they interact
with the extraoral bitter taste receptor ligand systems."
* RELATED_TOPICS
o Health_&_Medicine
# Medical_Topics # Dietary_Supplements_and_Minerals #
Genes # Staying_Healthy
o Fossils_&_Ruins
# Human_Evolution # Charles_Darwin # Early_Humans #
Evolution
* RELATED_TERMS
o Taste_bud o Tongue o Sensory_system o Cells_of_the_stomach
o Cocoa o Antihistamine o Anticonvulsant o Sugar_substitute

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Story Source: Materials provided by Leibniz-Institut_fu"r_Lebensmittel-Systembiologie_an_der
TU_Mu"nchen. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Florian Ziegler, Alexandra Steuer, Antonella Di Pizio, Maik Behrens.

Physiological activation of human and mouse bitter taste
receptors by bile acids. Communications Biology, 2023; 6 (1) DOI:
10.1038/s42003-023- 04971-3 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/07/230703133115.htm

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