Download The Taste of Cats - University of Maryland, College Park

By: Nidal Babaa
Bsci338C
Dr. Carleton
THE TASTE OF CATS
BACKGROUND
The pleasant tastes are mediated by a family of three
T1R receptors that assemble in pairs.
 Diverse molecules that lead to a sensation of sweet
bind to a receptor formed from T1R2 and T1R3
subunits.
 Cats have both genes present, yet still cannot taste
sweetness.

RESEARCH
Xia Li, along with her collaborator Dr. Joseph
Brand, wanted to figure out why cats are
cannot taste sweets.
 She compared sweet receptor genes in cats
with the sequence and structure of the same
genes in dogs, humans, mice and rats.

RESEARCH CONTINUED..
Linda Bartoshuk also explored the unique taste
of cats.
 She tested the effect that adding sucrose to
water had on its taste to cats.
 She used nine cats and tested them on two
experiments

RESULTS
Xia Li found that the cat Tas1r3 gene showed
high similarity with those of dogs, humans,
mice and rats.
 Concluded that cat Tas1r3 is an expressed,
functional receptor. While cat Tas1r2 is an
unexpressed pseudo gene.

RESULTS CONTINUED…


The results of the first part of her research showed
that the cats ingested nearly equal amounts of water
and sucrose solution at every concentration tested.
The results of the second part of her research showed
that the cats strongly preferred the sucrose to the
weak NaCl solution instead of water.
REMAINING QUESTIONS

Theory: perhaps some cats can use their
Tas1r3 receptor to taste high concentrations of
sugar
THE END