TAS2R1

Summary

TAS2R1 (taste 2 receptor member 1, HGNC:14909) is a protein-coding gene on chromosome 5p15.31, encoding Taste receptor type 2 member 1 (Q9NYW7). Receptor that may play a role in the perception of bitterness and is gustducin-linked.

This gene encodes 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. This intronless taste receptor gene encodes a 7-transmembrane receptor protein, functioning as a bitter taste receptor. This gene is mapped to chromosome 5p15, the location of a genetic locus (PROP) that controls the detection of the bitter compound 6-n-propyl-2-thiouracil.

Source: NCBI Gene 50834 — RefSeq curated summary.

At a glance

• GWAS associations: 3
• Clinical variants (ClinVar): 42 total — 1 pathogenic
• Druggable target: yes — 1 molecules with ChEMBL bioactivity
• MANE Select transcript: NM_019599

Identifiers

Gene identifiers

Field	Value
HGNC ID	HGNC:14909
Approved symbol	TAS2R1
Name	taste 2 receptor member 1
Location	5p15.31
Locus type	gene with protein product
Status	Approved
Aliases	T2R1, TRB7
Ensembl gene	ENSG00000169777
Ensembl biotype	protein_coding
OMIM	604796
Entrez	50834

Gene structure

Transcript identifiers

Ensembl transcripts: 3 — 3 protein_coding

ENST00000382492, ENST00000506620, ENST00000514078

RefSeq mRNA: 2 — MANE Select: NM_019599 NM_001386348, NM_019599

CCDS: CCDS3876

Canonical transcript exons

ENST00000382492 — 1 exons

Exon	Start	End
ENSE00001492318	9627347	9630351

Expression profiles

Bgee: expression breadth broad, 48 present calls, max score 60.97.

Top tissues by expression

224 total, by Bgee expression score (0-100, higher = more expressed):

Tissue	Anatomy ID	Expression score	Quality
right testis	UBERON:0004534	60.97	gold quality
left testis	UBERON:0004533	59.22	gold quality
palpebral conjunctiva	UBERON:0001812	58.93	gold quality
testis	UBERON:0000473	57.39	gold quality
stromal cell of endometrium	CL:0002255	53.85	silver quality
endothelial cell	CL:0000115	52.63	gold quality
sperm	CL:0000019	51.53	gold quality
colonic epithelium	UBERON:0000397	49.68	gold quality
endometrium	UBERON:0001295	47.97	gold quality
gingiva	UBERON:0001828	43.43	gold quality
skeletal muscle tissue of rectus abdominis	UBERON:0004511	43.37	gold quality
placenta	UBERON:0001987	43.01	gold quality
secondary oocyte	CL:0000655	42.57	gold quality
caudate nucleus	UBERON:0001873	42.43	gold quality
putamen	UBERON:0001874	42.32	gold quality
substantia nigra pars compacta	UBERON:0001965	41.65	gold quality
vastus lateralis	UBERON:0001379	41.41	gold quality
quadriceps femoris	UBERON:0001377	41.37	gold quality
superficial temporal artery	UBERON:0001614	41.33	gold quality
middle temporal gyrus	UBERON:0002771	41.28	gold quality
mucosa of paranasal sinus	UBERON:0005030	40.98	gold quality
subthalamic nucleus	UBERON:0001906	40.94	gold quality
amniotic fluid	UBERON:0000173	40.69	gold quality
jejunal mucosa	UBERON:0000399	40.59	gold quality
biceps brachii	UBERON:0001507	40.57	gold quality
medial globus pallidus	UBERON:0002477	40.48	gold quality
epithelium of nasopharynx	UBERON:0001951	40.45	gold quality
myocardium	UBERON:0002349	40.45	gold quality
gingival epithelium	UBERON:0001949	40.43	gold quality
cortical plate	UBERON:0005343	40.41	gold quality

Single-cell (SCXA)

Detected in 1 experiment(s), a significant marker in 0.

Experiment	Marker?	Max mean expression
E-ANND-3	no	1.97

Regulation

Is transcription factor: no

Literature-anchored findings (GeneRIF, showing 8)

• The ligand binding pocket in T2R1 is present on the extracellular surface of the receptor, and is formed by the transmembrane helices 1, 2, 3 and 7 and with extracellular loops 1 and 2 forming a cap like structure on the binding pocket. (PMID:20599705)
• The formation of a short helical segment in intracellular loop II may be necessary for the activation of hTAS2R1. (PMID:21619450)
• Structural basis of activation of bitter taste receptor T2R1 and comparison with Class A G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). (PMID:21852241)
• Intracellular signaling and cell mechanics using isolated human airway smooth muscle, mouse tracheal responses, and human bronchial responses to characterize TAS2R relaxation in the context of beta(2)AR desensitization. (PMID:22683571)
• Expression and functional activity of the bitter taste receptors TAS2R1 and TAS2R38 in human keratinocytes (PMID:25573083)
• TAS2R agonists block signaling downstream of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PMID:26684251)
• The influence of bitter-taste receptor (TAS2R) expression in pharmacological response to Chloroquine in obese patients with COVID-19. (PMID:32876108)
• TAS2R supports odontoblastic differentiation of human dental pulp stem cells in the inflammatory microenvironment. (PMID:35902880)

Cross-species orthologs

4 orthologs

Organism	Symbol	Gene ID
danio_rerio	tas2r200.2	ENSDARG00000074066
danio_rerio	tas2r200.1	ENSDARG00000079880
mus_musculus	Tas2r119	ENSMUSG00000045267
rattus_norvegicus	Tas2r119	ENSRNOG00000011963

Paralogs (23): TAS2R8 (ENSG00000121314), TAS2R10 (ENSG00000121318), TAS2R7 (ENSG00000121377), TAS2R9 (ENSG00000121381), TAS2R3 (ENSG00000127362), TAS2R4 (ENSG00000127364), TAS2R5 (ENSG00000127366), TAS2R16 (ENSG00000128519), TAS2R60 (ENSG00000185899), TAS2R42 (ENSG00000186136), TAS2R19 (ENSG00000212124), TAS2R50 (ENSG00000212126), TAS2R14 (ENSG00000212127), TAS2R13 (ENSG00000212128), TAS2R41 (ENSG00000221855), TAS2R40 (ENSG00000221937), TAS2R46 (ENSG00000226761), TAS2R39 (ENSG00000236398), TAS2R43 (ENSG00000255374), TAS2R20 (ENSG00000255837), TAS2R30 (ENSG00000256188), TAS2R31 (ENSG00000256436), TAS2R38 (ENSG00000257138)

Protein

Protein identifiers

Taste receptor type 2 member 1 — Q9NYW7 (reviewed: Q9NYW7)

Alternative names: Taste receptor family B member 7

All UniProt accessions (3): Q9NYW7, U3KPZ8, U3KQT0

UniProt curated annotations — full annotation on UniProt →

Function. Receptor that may play a role in the perception of bitterness and is gustducin-linked. May play a role in sensing the chemical composition of the gastrointestinal content. The activity of this receptor may stimulate alpha gustducin, mediate PLC-beta-2 activation and lead to the gating of TRPM5.

Subcellular location. Membrane.

Tissue specificity. Expressed in subsets of taste receptor cells of the tongue and palate epithelium and exclusively in gustducin-positive cells.

Miscellaneous. Most taste cells may be activated by a limited number of bitter compounds; individual taste cells can discriminate among bitter stimuli.

Similarity. Belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor T2R family.

RefSeq proteins (2): NP_001373277, NP_062545* (*=MANE)

Domains & families (InterPro)

ID	Name	Type
IPR007960	TAS2R	Family

Pfam: PF05296

UniProt features (20 total): topological domain 8, transmembrane region 7, sequence variant 3, chain 1, glycosylation site 1

Structure

Experimental structures (PDB)

0 structures.

Predicted structure (AlphaFold)

Model	pLDDT	Fraction very-high
AF-Q9NYW7-F1	80.07	0.28

Functional residue map

Curated UniProt residues grouped by drug-discovery relevance — catalytic, ligand-binding, modification, and mutation-validated positions. Source: UniProtKB sequence features.

Glycosylation sites (1): 163

Function

Pathways and Gene Ontology

Reactome pathways

9 pathways

ID	Pathway
R-HSA-418594	G alpha (i) signalling events
R-HSA-420499	Class C/3 (Metabotropic glutamate/pheromone receptors)
R-HSA-9717207	Sensory perception of sweet, bitter, and umami (glutamate) taste
R-HSA-162582	Signal Transduction
R-HSA-372790	Signaling by GPCR
R-HSA-388396	GPCR downstream signalling
R-HSA-500792	GPCR ligand binding
R-HSA-9709957	Sensory Perception
R-HSA-9717189	Sensory perception of taste

MSigDB gene sets: 55 (showing top): GOBP_SENSORY_PERCEPTION_OF_CHEMICAL_STIMULUS, GOBP_DETECTION_OF_CHEMICAL_STIMULUS_INVOLVED_IN_SENSORY_PERCEPTION_OF_TASTE, GOBP_SENSORY_PERCEPTION_OF_TASTE, GOBP_DETECTION_OF_STIMULUS, GOBP_SENSORY_PERCEPTION, SHEN_SMARCA2_TARGETS_DN, GOMF_TRANSMEMBRANE_SIGNALING_RECEPTOR_ACTIVITY, GOMF_BITTER_TASTE_RECEPTOR_ACTIVITY, GOMF_TASTE_RECEPTOR_ACTIVITY, GOMF_G_PROTEIN_COUPLED_RECEPTOR_ACTIVITY, MARTENS_TRETINOIN_RESPONSE_UP, GOBP_G_PROTEIN_COUPLED_RECEPTOR_SIGNALING_PATHWAY, GOBP_DETECTION_OF_STIMULUS_INVOLVED_IN_SENSORY_PERCEPTION, GOBP_SENSORY_PERCEPTION_OF_BITTER_TASTE, IL15_UP.V1_DN

GO Biological Process (4): detection of chemical stimulus involved in sensory perception of bitter taste (GO:0001580), signal transduction (GO:0007165), G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway (GO:0007186), sensory perception of taste (GO:0050909)

GO Molecular Function (3): G protein-coupled receptor activity (GO:0004930), taste receptor activity (GO:0008527), bitter taste receptor activity (GO:0033038)

GO Cellular Component (2): plasma membrane (GO:0005886), membrane (GO:0016020)

Reactome top-level categories

Rollup of top-6 pathways:

Category	Pathways
Signaling by GPCR	2
GPCR downstream signalling	1
GPCR ligand binding	1
Sensory perception of taste	1
Signal Transduction	1
Sensory Perception	1

GO top-level categories

Rollup of top GO terms by namespace:

Category	Terms
detection of chemical stimulus involved in sensory perception of taste	2
transmembrane signaling receptor activity	2
sensory perception of bitter taste	1
cell communication	1
cellular process	1
signaling	1
regulation of cellular process	1
cellular response to stimulus	1
G protein-coupled receptor activity	1
signal transduction	1
sensory perception of chemical stimulus	1
G protein-coupled receptor signaling pathway	1
detection of chemical stimulus involved in sensory perception of bitter taste	1
taste receptor activity	1
membrane	1
cell periphery	1
cellular anatomical structure	1

Protein interactions and networks

STRING

614 interactions, top by confidence (×1000):

Protein A	Protein B	Partner UniProt	Score
TAS2R1	GNAT3	A8MTJ3	852
TAS2R1	SEMA5A	Q13591	852
TAS2R1	CDH9	Q9ULB4	804
TAS2R1	CDH10	Q9Y6N8	788
TAS2R1	NLGN4X	Q8N0W4	657
TAS2R1	TAS1R2	Q8TE23	647
TAS2R1	ASTN2	O75129	635
TAS2R1	NLGN3	Q9NZ94	634
TAS2R1	CNTN4	Q8IWV2	626
TAS2R1	TAS1R1	Q7RTX1	621
TAS2R1	FBXO40	Q9UH90	620
TAS2R1	COP1	Q8NHY2	594
TAS2R1	PKD2L1	Q9P0L9	580
TAS2R1	TAS1R3	Q7RTX0	571
TAS2R1	NLGN1	Q8N2Q7	561

IntAct

0 interactions, top by confidence:

ESM2 similar proteins: P59532, P59533, P59535, P59536, P59551, Q2AB83, Q4VHE7, Q5Y4Z0, Q645S2, Q645U0, Q645U5, Q645U6, Q645U7, Q645Y3, Q645Y9, Q645Z0, Q645Z1, Q646A4, Q646A5, Q646B1, Q646B2, Q646C7, Q646D0, Q646D4, Q646D5, Q646E6, Q646E9, Q646F3, Q646G7, Q646G9, Q646H0, Q67ER9, Q67ES2, Q67ES3, Q67ES7, Q697L2, Q697L3, Q697L4, Q697L5, Q697L6

Diamond homologs: P59530, P59532, P59534, P59536, P59537, P59539, P59540, P59541, P59551, Q2AB83, Q50KZ9, Q5Y4Y8, Q5Y4Z0, Q5Y4Z8, Q5Y500, Q645S2, Q645S5, Q645T0, Q645T4, Q645T7, Q645U1, Q645U2, Q645U4, Q645U6, Q645U7, Q645U8, Q645V1, Q645V3, Q645V8, Q645V9, Q645Y3, Q645Y4, Q645Y5, Q645Y7, Q645Y8, Q645Z0, Q645Z5, Q645Z7, Q646A2, Q646A3

SIGNOR signaling

0 interactions.

Disease & clinical

Clinical variants and AI predictions

ClinVar

42 variants total. Per-class counts are floors (≥ shown; pagination cap):

Classification	Count (floor)
Pathogenic	1
Likely pathogenic	0
Uncertain significance	36
Likely benign	4
Benign	1

Top pathogenic / likely-pathogenic (1)

Variant ID	HGVS	Classification
446326	GRCh37/hg19 5p15.33-13.3(chr5:25328-30672798)x1	Pathogenic

SpliceAI

194 predictions. Top by Δscore:

Variant	Effect	Δscore
5:9630293:G:C	donor_gain	0.9600
5:9629993:C:CC	acceptor_gain	0.9100
5:9629990:TCA:T	acceptor_gain	0.8700
5:9629991:CAC:C	acceptor_gain	0.8700
5:9629991:CA:C	acceptor_gain	0.8600
5:9630289:CCTAG:C	donor_gain	0.8600
5:9629992:AC:A	acceptor_loss	0.8400
5:9629993:CTGCA:C	acceptor_loss	0.8400
5:9629994:T:A	acceptor_loss	0.8300
5:9629989:ATCA:A	acceptor_gain	0.8000
5:9630305:A:AC	donor_gain	0.8000
5:9629988:TATCA:T	acceptor_gain	0.7900
5:9630103:CGCT:C	donor_gain	0.7900
5:9630292:AG:A	donor_gain	0.7800
5:9629995:G:C	acceptor_loss	0.7400
5:9630178:A:C	donor_gain	0.6500
5:9629430:C:CT	acceptor_gain	0.6100
5:9629430:C:T	acceptor_gain	0.6000
5:9630292:A:AC	donor_gain	0.6000
5:9630285:TTTAC:T	donor_loss	0.5800
5:9630286:TTA:T	donor_loss	0.5800
5:9630287:TACC:T	donor_loss	0.5800
5:9630288:AC:A	donor_loss	0.5800
5:9630289:C:CG	donor_loss	0.5800
5:9630290:C:A	donor_loss	0.5700
5:9630058:A:AC	donor_gain	0.5600
5:9630103:CG:C	donor_gain	0.5600
5:9629960:CATT:C	acceptor_gain	0.5500
5:9629996:C:CT	acceptor_gain	0.5500
5:9630284:GTTTA:G	donor_loss	0.5500

AlphaMissense

1987 scored. Top likely-pathogenic:

Variant	Protein change	am_pathogenicity
5:9629334:G:C	F233L	0.925
5:9629334:G:T	F233L	0.925
5:9629336:A:G	F233L	0.925
5:9629727:G:C	F102L	0.900
5:9629727:G:T	F102L	0.900
5:9629729:A:G	F102L	0.900
5:9629463:G:C	F190L	0.898
5:9629463:G:T	F190L	0.898
5:9629465:A:G	F190L	0.898
5:9629753:A:G	W94R	0.851
5:9629753:A:T	W94R	0.851
5:9629885:A:G	C50R	0.849
5:9629743:G:T	T97K	0.821
5:9629741:A:G	W98R	0.819
5:9629741:A:T	W98R	0.819
5:9629688:G:C	F115L	0.815
5:9629688:G:T	F115L	0.815
5:9629690:A:G	F115L	0.815
5:9629723:A:G	C104R	0.810
5:9629868:T:A	R55S	0.807
5:9629868:T:G	R55S	0.807
5:9629735:C:G	G100R	0.796
5:9629182:A:G	L284S	0.793
5:9629203:A:G	L277S	0.791
5:9629961:A:C	N24K	0.790
5:9629961:A:T	N24K	0.790
5:9629639:C:G	G132R	0.789
5:9629639:C:T	G132R	0.789
5:9629975:C:G	G20R	0.788
5:9629975:C:T	G20R	0.788

dbSNP variants (sampled 300 via entrez): RS1000003141 (5:9794546 A>C,G), RS1000007705 (5:9757216 C>G), RS1000022981 (5:9745716 A>T), RS1000049984 (5:9661099 G>A,C,T), RS1000054853 (5:9892188 C>A), RS1000057372 (5:9677567 T>G), RS1000069215 (5:9788268 G>A,T), RS1000073107 (5:9683448 G>A), RS1000077995 (5:9705934 G>A,C,T), RS1000080858 (5:9843159 G>A), RS1000084516 (5:9905568 G>A), RS1000085267 (5:9761683 G>A), RS1000097900 (5:9806781 G>A), RS1000103534 (5:9867569 C>T), RS1000129234 (5:9855508 CAT>C)

Disease associations

OMIM: gene MIM:604796 | disease phenotypes:

GenCC curated gene-disease

Mondo (0):

Orphanet (0):

HPO phenotypes

0 total (0 of 0 shown, HPO-id order):

GWAS associations

3 associations (top):

Study	Trait	p-value
GCST000496_1	Autism	2.000000e-07
GCST001971_5	Hypersomnia (HLA-DQB1*06:02 negative)	1.000000e-06
GCST010866_106	Coronary artery disease	6.000000e-08

Drugs & pharmacology

Drug and pharmacology data

Is drug target: yes

ChEMBL targets (1): CHEMBL4523475 (SINGLE PROTEIN)

Molecules with ChEMBL bioactivity

1 molecules (phase ≥1), by development phase (incl. off-target/promiscuous compounds). Patent mentions across the top 20 by phase: 40,234 (via chembl_molecule»patent_compound — counts attach to the compound, not the gene–compound relationship, so off-target/promiscuous molecules can dominate).

Molecule	Name	Phase	Patents
CHEMBL434	ISOPROTERENOL	4	40,234

PharmGKB: 1 entry (VIP=true, CPIC=false)

GtoPdb / IUPHAR curated pharmacology

(IUPHAR/BPS Guide to Pharmacology — expert-curated)

Target class: gpcr — Taste 2 receptors

Most potent curated ligand interactions (2 total), top 2:

Ligand	Action	Affinity	Parameter
cohumulone	Agonist	6.7	pEC50
L-Phe-Phe-Phe	Agonist	3.43	pEC50

ChEMBL bioactivities

1 potent at pChembl≥5 of 1 total, top 1 by pChembl (potency: 10 = 0.1 nM, 6 = 1 µM).

pChembl	Type	Value	Unit	Molecule
8.31	EC50	4.9	nM	ISOPROTERENOL

CTD chemical–gene interactions

7 total (human), top 7 by PubMed support.

Chemical	Actions (top 5)	PubMed papers
CGP 52608	affects binding, increases reaction	1
Resveratrol	affects cotreatment, decreases expression	1
Benzo(a)pyrene	increases methylation	1
Plant Extracts	affects cotreatment, decreases expression	1
Aflatoxin B1	increases methylation	1
Asbestos, Crocidolite	affects expression	1
Copper Sulfate	decreases expression	1

ChEMBL screening assays

30 unique, capped per target: 28 functional, 2 binding

Representative assays (with source publication via chembl_document):

Assay ID	Type	Description	Source paper
CHEMBL4346422	Functional	Antagonist activity at recombinant human TAS2R1 transiently expressed in HEK293T co-expressing Galpha16gust44 assessed as inhibition of picric acid-induced intracellular calcium level by measuring remaining activity at 25 uM by fluo-4AM dye	Discovery and Development of S6821 and S7958 as Potent TAS2R8 Antagonists. — J Med Chem
CHEMBL4346441	Binding	Agonist activity at TAS2R1 (unknown origin) at 25 uM by transiently expressed cell-based assay	Discovery and Development of S6821 and S7958 as Potent TAS2R8 Antagonists. — J Med Chem

Clinical trials (associated diseases)

0 trials via MONDO — disease-level, not drug-specific.