Patent ID: 7507544

Claim:
An in vitro method for identifying a compound that putatively elicits or modulates taste in a human subject based on its effect on T1R3 polypeptide activation comprising: (1) screening one or more compounds in a functional assay that detects compounds which activate or which modulate (enhance or inhibit) the activation of a taste receptor comprising a human T1R3 polypeptide or the activation or modulation of said taste receptor by another compound wherein said T1R3 polypeptide is selected from the group consisting of: (a) a T1R3 polypeptide having the amino acid sequence of SEQ. ID. NO: 4; (b) a human T1R3 polypeptide that possesses at least 90% sequence identity to the polypeptide of SEQ. ID. NO: 4 and which binds to a taste ligand specifically bound by a taste receptor comprising the polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:4; and (c) a human T1R3 polypeptide which is encoded by a nucleic acid sequence that hybridizes to the complement of the T1R3 polypeptide coding region of the nucleic acid sequence of SEQ. ID. NO: 2, SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ. ID. NO: 20 under stringent hybridization conditions which are incubation in a 50% formamide, 5×SSC and 1% SDS at 42 degrees C. and wash in 0.1% SDS at 65 degrees C. and which human T1R3 taste receptor binds to a taste ligand that is specifically bound by a taste receptor comprising the T1R3 polypeptide of SEQ ID NO:4; (2) identifying compounds (i) that putatively elicit or modulate T1R3 polypeptide-associated taste based on its (a) activation or modulation (inhibition or enhancement) of the activation of a T1R3 polypeptide by another compound according to (a), (b), or (c), in said functional assay (1).