Patent ID: 8338115

Claim:
An in vitro method for identifying a compound that putatively elicits or modulates bitter taste in a human subject based on its specific binding or modulatory effect on the activation of a T2R polypeptide comprising: (1) effecting a binding or functional assay that detects for at least one compound which specifically binds or which modulates the activation of a taste receptor comprising a human T2R polypeptide, which polypeptide possesses at least 95% sequence identity to the human T2R polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2 wherein said human T2R polypeptide specifically binds to a bitter ligand that specifically binds the human T2R polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:2; and (2) identifying at least one compound in said assay which specifically binds or modulates the activation of said human T2R polypeptide, which at least one compound putatively elicits or modulates bitter taste in humans.