An international group of scientists from Great Britain, Germany and the United States conducted a study to determine the best taste for cats and the molecular mechanism of its recognition. These results were published in the journal Science.
Scientists have discovered that cats’ taste buds recognize the mind’s taste represented by different types of meat and seafood. The mind is considered one of the five basic tastes, along with sweet, sour, salty, and bitter.
It was previously known that humans and some other animals have the Tas1r1 and Tas1r3 genes, which encode proteins corresponding to mind recognition in taste receptors. But it was unclear whether the cats had both of these genes.
During the research, the scientists took a biopsy from the tongue of a 6-year-old cat and sequenced its genetic material. The results showed that the cat taste receptors expressed both the Tas1r1 and Tas1r3 genes; this confirmed for the first time that cats have all the molecular mechanisms for mind recognition.
However, when the protein sequences encoded by these genes were compared with those in humans, significant differences emerged. Cats have mutations in two key regions of the sequence that bind to glutamic and aspartic acids, the main amino acids that stimulate taste buds in humans.
To determine the meaning of such mutations, the researchers conducted an experiment on cells in the brain that produce the “cat” receptor. They found that in cats the receptor is activated by nucleotides and amino acids increase this response, whereas in humans the opposite occurs.
In the last part of the study, a test was conducted to determine the tastes of 25 cats. The cats were offered two bowls of water containing different combinations of amino acids and nucleotides or just water. The cats preferred bowls with molecules found in brain-rich foods. This suggests that taste is the main motivator for cats. Source
Source: Port Altele
