title: The taste of carbonation.
abstract: Carbonated beverages are commonly available and immensely popular, but little is known about the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the perception of carbonation in the mouth. In mammals, carbonation elicits both somatosensory and chemosensory responses, including activation of taste neurons. We have identified the cellular and molecular substrates for the taste of carbonation. By targeted genetic ablation and the silencing of synapses in defined populations of taste receptor cells, we demonstrated that the sour-sensing cells act as the taste sensors for carbonation, and showed that carbonic anhydrase 4, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored enzyme, functions as the principal CO2 taste sensor. Together, these studies reveal the basis of the taste of carbonation as well as the contribution of taste cells in the orosensory response to CO2.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Departments of Neurobiology and Neurosciences, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
authors.forename: Jayaram
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chandrashekar
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yarmolinsky
authors.forename: Lars
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: von Buchholtz
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sly
authors.forename: Nicholas J P
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Ryba
authors.forename: Charles S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Zuker
mesh_terms: D000200:Action Potentials; D000818:Animals; D001574:Benzolamide / Q000494:pharmacology; D001639:Bicarbonates / Q000378:metabolism; D015220:Calcium Channels / Q000378:metabolism; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D002253:Carbonated Beverages; D030741:Carbonic Anhydrase IV / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002257:Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases / Q000378:metabolism; D002814:Chorda Tympani Nerve / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D011522:Protons; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000378:metabolism; D013649:Taste / Q000502:physiology*; D013650:Taste Buds / Q000201:enzymology / Q000502:physiology*; D055697:Taste Perception
chemical_list: D001639:Bicarbonates; D015220:Calcium Channels; D002257:Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibitors; C486487:Pkd2l1 protein, mouse; D011522:Protons; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D030741:Carbonic Anhydrase IV; D002256:Carbonic Anhydrases; D001574:Benzolamide