FUNDING PROGRAM FOR NEXT GENERATION WORLD-LEADING RESEARCHERS Project Title: Structure-biological elucidation of mechanisms of taste recognition by taste receptors Name: Atsuko YAMASHITA Institution: Okayama University 1. Background of research The taste perception is an important function for living organisms to detect chemical substances contained in foods and judge whether they serve as nutrients or toxics for survival. However, current understanding of molecular mechanisms for taste perception is limited. 2. Research objectives Taste perception starts with recognition of the taste substances and transmission of the external chemical information to inside of the body by taste receptors, chemosensory proteins existing in oral cavity. Toward understanding how we sense taste, it is important to understand how taste receptors recognize chemical substances and transmit the signal to inside of the cells. The objective of this project is to elucidate functional mechanisms of taste receptors by structural and biochemical analyses. 3. Research characteristics (incl. originality and creativity) Molecular-level analyses of taste receptors have so far been hampered by difficulties in sample preparation, because they are integral membrane proteins. This project aims to achieve sample preparation of taste receptors suitable for structural and biochemical analyses by use of recently-developed sample preparation methodologies for structure analyses of membrane proteins, and address their molecular functions in depth. 4. Anticipated effects and future applications of research Knowledge about the three-dimensional structures and functional mechanisms of taste receptors is expected to contribute development of novel artificial taste substances and taste evaluation systems, and provide useful information for drug discoveries targeting receptor proteins homologous to taste receptors working in other biological systems..