The specific aims of the present research proposal are directed at identifying and characterizing taste cell-expressed proteinsthat enhance taste receptor function. In vivo, these proteins may play a role in optimizingtaste cell function, or they could play a role in adaptationto external taste stimuli by regulating the number offunctional receptors at the taste cell surface. Taste tissue will be analyzed by PCR techniques to screen for thepresence of members of the RTF and Reep families, which may function to enhance taste receptor activity.Each RTF and Reep protein found in taste will be tested for its enhancingpropertieson tastant receptors usingexpressed taste receptors in heterologous cells. Any potential interactions of RTFs or Reeps with tastereceptors will be confirmed by immunoprecipitation and confocal microscopy.Finally, the mechanismofaction of these enhancing proteinswill be investigatedusing structural and functional studies.
| Ilegems, Erwin; Iwatsuki, Ken; Kokrashvili, Zaza et al. (2010) REEP2 enhances sweet receptor function by recruitment to lipid rafts. J Neurosci 30:13774-83 |
