New Study Explains How Taste Genes are Connected to Male Reproduction

A new study conducted by scientists from the Monell Center highlights the association between the taste system and male reproduction.

According to the study published in the Proceedings of National Academy of Sciences, scientists were surprised to discover the two proteins that are involved in oral taste detection also play an important role in sperm development.

The study lead Bedrich Mosinger, MD, PhD, a molecular biologist at Monell, states that this research gives enough proof of  how components of taste system also play a vital role in other organ systems.

They discovered this while breeding mice in the laboratory for taste related studies without  the two proteins that are known as the taste receptors.  They noticed that the mice failed to reproduce.

The two proteins were 'TAS1R3', a component responsible for both the sweet and amino acid taste receptor, and 'GNAT3,' a molecule that converts oral taste receptor signal into a nerve cell response.

While conducting the breeding experiments, the scientists noticed that only the males were affected with fertility. Prior to this the two proteins were found in testes and sperms of the mice but nothing was known about their function.

To know more about the reproductive function of the two proteins, the research team engineered mice that didn't have the genes for the mouse version of TAS1R3 and GNAT3 but the TAS1R3 receptor was of human form. They noticed that the mice were fertile.

They further blocked the human TAS1R3 receptor in the engineered mice by adding the drug clofibrate to the rodent's diet and this ultimately left the mice without any functional TAS1R3 or GNAT3 protein. Due to malformed and less sperms, the males became sterile.  They again reversed the sterility by removing clofibrate from the diet. Clofribrate are used to treat lipid disorders like high cholesterol or triglycerides.

As they are widely used in modern medicine and agriculture, the scientists speculate they may be contributing to the decline in male fertility, which is an increasing global problem.

Mosinger concludes, "If our pharmacological findings are indeed related to the global increase in the incidence of male infertility, we now have knowledge to help us devise treatments to reduce or reverse the effects of fibrates and phenoxy-compounds on sperm production and quality. This knowledge could further be used to design a male non-hormonal contraceptive."