Discovery of bitter-taste gene is sweet
By John Travis
Variations in a gene on chromosome 7 seem to explain why people can differ in their sensitivity to bitter substances.
The capability to sense bitterness may have evolved because it keeps animals from eating harmful plants. “We have a sense of bitter taste to protect us from ingesting toxic substances,” says Dennis Drayna of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders in Bethesda, Md.
For decades, taste researchers have used a chemical called phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) to assay a person’s capability to sense a bitter taste. About 70 percent of people find PTC intensely bitter, but the rest can barely taste it.