Genetic variation of umami taste genes in Koreans

Umami is a pleasant savoury taste imparted by glutamate, a type of amino acid, and ribonucleotides, including inosinate and guanylate, which occur naturally in many foods including meat, fish, vegetables and dairy products. A heterodimer of TAS1R1 and TAS1R3 is known to function as umami taste receptor in humans. To address the association between genetic polymorphism of TAS1R1 / TAS1R3 genes and individual difference in umami taste sensitivity, we have examined the entire coding region of these genes using PCR-mediated direct sequencing analysis. A total of 11 SNPs were identified from 98 unrelated Korean individuals and were in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium. Four out of 11 SNPs were found in the exons and two of them were nonsynonymous ones. These coding SNPs (cSNPs), p.A372T in TAS1R1 and p.C757R in TAS1R3 genes, were common in Koreans, so these will be useful re-source for further studies to find a functional allele for in-dividual variation to umami taste sensitivity in our population.