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TRPM4 and TRPM5 are both required for normal signaling in taste receptor cells

Debarghya Dutta Banik1, Laura E Martin2, Marc Freichel3

  • 1Department of Biological Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|January 10, 2018
PubMed

Insights

Transient receptor potential melastatin 5 (TRPM5) and TRPM4 channels are crucial for taste. This study shows both TRPM4 and TRPM5 are essential for detecting sweet, bitter, and umami tastes, with double knockout mice showing no taste ability.

Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Sensory Biology
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • Peripheral taste receptor cells utilize complex signaling pathways for taste transduction.
  • Transient receptor potential melastatin 5 (TRPM5), a sodium-selective TRP channel, is a known downstream element in sweet, bitter, and umami taste signaling.
  • Previous research indicated a TRPM5-independent pathway contributes to taste perception, suggesting other channels are involved.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of Transient receptor potential melastatin 4 (TRPM4) in taste transduction.
  • To elucidate the combined function of TRPM4 and TRPM5 in taste signaling pathways.

Main Methods:

  • Utilized live cell imaging techniques to observe taste-evoked signaling.
  • Conducted behavioral studies using knockout (KO) mice lacking TRPM4 and/or TRPM5.
  • Analyzed the impact of channel deficiencies on taste detection.

Main Results:

  • Identified a critical role for the sodium-selective TRP channel TRPM4 in taste transduction.
  • Demonstrated that both TRPM4 and TRPM5 are involved in taste-evoked signaling.
  • Showed that loss of either TRPM4 or TRPM5 significantly impairs taste perception in mice.
  • Confirmed that the complete absence of both TRPM4 and TRPM5 abolishes the ability to detect sweet, bitter, and umami stimuli.

Conclusions:

  • Both TRPM4 and TRPM5 channels are essential and required for the transduction of sweet, bitter, and umami taste stimuli.
  • These findings highlight the synergistic role of TRPM4 and TRPM5 in mammalian taste perception.
Keywords:
TRPM4TRPM5taste transduction

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