Genetic: Cats lack a receptor for sweet taste!

A defective gene is responsible for ensuring that our office Tiger unlike most or all plant-eaters and even dogs do not have interest in sweet. Although her sense of taste otherwise perfectly normal and they worked extremely sour and bitter as we shun people, they show a remarkable indifference to sweet carbohydrates like sugar and sweeteners strong. Even shots on nerve cell level, no matter how small response of the domestic cat show on sugar.

That cat still sweets such as chocolate and ice cream is not spurn the more fat these foods as to their sweetness.

Why is it that our cats as "sugar-blind" are?

The sweet taste receptor is composed of two proteins, T1R2 and T1R3, whose blueprint by the two genes Tas1R2 and Tas1R3 in the DNA is encrypted. In a 2005 study, researchers have evidence that these genes of the reason is found that our cats can not taste sweets. These two genes were sequenced and analyzed and compared with those of dog, mouse, rat and human compared. While Tas1R3 gene structure of the corresponding gene in other mammals very similar, lacking in Tas1R2 gene 237 base pairs, so no T1R2 protein can be generated (Source: Science Daily). It is a so-called Pseudogen. This taste receptor, but is functional, but it must T1R2 and T1R3 protein to a so-called Heteromer connect - no T1R2 no Geschmacksrezeptro for Sweet!

Literature

Li X, Li W, Wang H, Cao J, Maehashi K, et al. (2005) Pseudogenization of a Sweet-Receptor Gene Accounts for Cats' Indifference toward Sugar. PLoS Genetics 1 (1): e3 doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.0010003

The image "October 4th-Spoiled" was written by Jessica DeWinter at Flickr under a Creative Commons license available.