Taste Receptor Type 2 Member 4 (TAS2R4)

Taste receptor type 2 member 4 is a member of a family of candidate taste receptors that are members of the G protein-coupled receptor superfamily and that are specifically expressed by taste receptor cells of the tongue and palate epithelia. These apparently intronless genes encode a 7-transmembrane receptor protein, functioning as a bitter taste receptor. This gene is clustered with another 3 candidate taste receptor genes in chromosome 7 and is genetically linked to loci that influence bitter perception.Expressed in subsets of taste receptor cells of the tongue and palate epithelium and exclusively in gustducin- positive cells.Gustducin-coupled receptor for denatonium and N(6)- propyl-2-thiouracil implicated in the perception of bitter compounds in the oral cavity and the gastrointestinal tract.