Can sharks taste bitter substances?

Researchers have found a receptor for bitter taste in twelve completely different cartilaginous fish (sharks and rays). The receptor belongs to the so-called taste receptors sort 2 (T2R), which additionally makes people understand bitter and doubtlessly poisonous meals. Until now, it was assumed that such receptors solely happen in bony vertebrates. Twelve out of 17 cartilaginous fish genomes studied contained genes for the taste receptors sort 2, with just one T2R gene current in every species (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences). The researchers named this single gene T2R1. The incontrovertible fact that solely a single T2R gene was discovered suggests that it’s the authentic type of these bitter taste receptors, which was not altered by gene duplication and subsequent completely different specialisation of the ensuing receptors. The outcomes confirmed that each bamboo shark and the catshark can taste bitter substances additionally perceived by people, resembling colchicine or bile acid. A screening of ninety-four human bitter substances recognized eleven substances that would additionally activate the sharks’ receptors.