Question

B. You would like to test the hypothesis that your molecule can signal through bitter taste receptors using a genetic experiment. Because there are so many different bitter taste receptors, it would not be possible to knock all of them out. However, you do have access to the PLCbeta2 knockout mouse. Describe how you can construct a mouse that retains sweet taste but lacks bitter taste reception. If your hypothesis is correct, what results do you expect in the lick rate assay? (4 points)

Answer 1

PLCbeta2 knockout mouse lacks both sweet and bitter taste reception. By selectively introducing PLCbeta2 gene or rescue construct in T1R (sweet receptor) expressing cells, it is possible to retrieve sweet taste reception alone in PLCbeta2 knoclout mouse which lacks bitter taste reception.

The knockout mouse lacking bitter taste reception would show would show attractiveness or decreased aversion to the molecule under consideration rather than complete aversion if the hypothesis is true. The number of licks per trial would increase in knockout mouse than the wild type mouse in the lick rate assay.