T1r hetero-oligomeric taste receptors, cell lines that express said receptors, and taste compounds

Abstract

The invention relates to compounds that specifically bind a T1R1/T1R3 or T1R2/T1R3 receptor or fragments or sub-units thereof. The present invention also relates to the use of hetero-oligomeric and chimeric taste receptors comprising T1R1/T1R3 and T1R2/T1R3 in assays to identify compounds that respectively respond to umami taste stimuli and sweet taste stimuli. Further, the invention relates to the constitutive of cell lines that stably or transiently co-express a combination of T1R1 and T1R3; or T1R2 and T1R3; under constitutive or inducible conditions. The use of these cells lines in cell-based assays to identify umami and sweet taste modulatory compounds is also provided, particularly high throughput screening assays that detect receptor activity by use of fluorometric imaging.

1 - 62 . (canceled) 
     
     
         63 . A method for identifying a putative taste modulatory compound, the method comprising:
 contacting one or more test compounds with a polypeptide, wherein the polypeptide is a human T1R3 receptor polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 7 or a polypeptide having at least 90% sequence identity thereto; and   identifying a putative taste modulatory compound based on its specifically interacting with the polypeptide.   
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein the polypeptide is expressed by a cell. 
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein the cell is a yeast cell, an insect cell, a mammalian cell, an amphibian cell, or a worm cell. 
     
     
         66 . The method of  claim 64 , wherein the identifying comprises detecting a change that is indicative of a binding interaction between the putative taste modulatory compound and the polypeptide. 
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the change is a change in intracellular calcium ion concentration, a change in fluorescence polarization, a change in second messenger levels, or a change in intracellular cyclic nucleotides.