Patent ID: 8206938

Claim:
An in vitro method of detecting a cell that is potentially sensitive to sweet tastants, the method comprising: (a) detecting the expression of a T1R2 polypeptide and/or a nucleic acid encoding said T1R2 polypeptide by said cell by contacting said cell with at least one probe that detects the expression of said T1R2 polypeptide and/or said nucleic acid encoding said T1R2 polypeptide by said cell, wherein said T1R2 polypeptide (i) is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 10, or (ii) possesses at least 90% sequence identity to the T1R2 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 6; (b) detecting the expression of a T1R3 polypeptide and/or a nucleic acid encoding said T1R3 polypeptide by said cell by contacting said cell with at least one probe that detects the expression of said T1R3 polypeptide and/or said nucleic acid encoding said T1R3 polypeptide by said cell, wherein said T1R3 polypeptide (i) is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence comprising SEQ ID NO: 9; or (ii) possesses at least 90% sequence identity to the T1R3 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO: 7; and (c) based on the results of (a) and (b), identifying a cell that is detected to express T1R2 and T1R3 as a cell that is potentially sensitive to sweet tastants (“detected cell”).