Patent ID: 8809000

Claim:
A method of screening for a compound that putatively blocks or activates sweet taste signaling, the method comprising the steps of: (a) contacting cells comprising isolated mammalian cells or cultured mammalian cells with one or more compounds, wherein said cells express a receptor that binds to sweet taste compounds; and (b) detecting whether said one or more compounds specifically bind to said receptor and/or specifically activate said receptor and, based thereon, identifying said one or more compounds as compounds that putatively block or activate sweet taste signaling, wherein (1) said receptor that binds to sweet compounds comprises a first polypeptide and a second polypeptide; (2) said first polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a polypeptide that is identical to the T1R2 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 4; and (ii) a T1R2 polypeptide that contains a region encoded by a nucleic acid sequence that specifically hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to the human T1R2 nucleic acid of SEQ ID NO:3 and has at least 90% identity to an extracellular or a transmembrane domain of the human T1R2 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 4; and (3) said second polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of: (i) a polypeptide that is identical to the T1R3 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 6; and (ii) a T1R3 polypeptide that contains a region encoded by a nucleic acid sequence that specifically hybridizes under stringent hybridization conditions to the human T1R3 nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 and has at least 90% identity to an extracellular or transmembrane domain of the human T1R3 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 6, wherein said stringent hybridization conditions comprise conducting the hybridization reaction at 42° C. in a solution comprising 50% formamide, 5×SSC, and 1% SDS and washing at 65° C. in a solution comprising 0.2×SSC and 0.1% SDS.