ArticleProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2013
Genetic loss or pharmacological blockade of testes-expressed taste genes causes male sterility.
Article in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Impact of Non-caloric Sweeteners on Male Fertility: A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis in Rodent Models.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- The structure and function of taste G protein-coupled receptors and their implications in diseases.International journal of oral science · 2026Review
- Ibuprofen inhibits human sweet taste and glucose detection implicating an additional mechanism of metabolic disease risk reduction.British journal of pharmacology · 2025Article
- Physiological Integration of Taste and Metabolism.The New England journal of medicine · 2024Review
- Bitter taste receptors in the reproductive system: Function and therapeutic implications.Journal of cellular physiology · 2024Review
- Article
- Article
- Novel gurmarin-like peptides from Gymnema sylvestre and their interactions with the sweet taste receptor T1R2/T1R3.Chemical senses · 2024Article
- Disruptive consequences of monosodium glutamate on male reproductive function: A review.Current research in toxicology · 2024Review
- Interkingdom Detection of Bacterial Quorum-Sensing Molecules by Mammalian Taste Receptors.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Taste receptors affect male reproduction by influencing steroid synthesis.Frontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2022Review
- Role of feeding specialization in taste receptor loss: insights from sweet and umami receptor evolution in Carnivora.Chemical senses · 2022Article
- Review
- Longitudinal Expression of TesticularAnimals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2021Article
- Drinking Non-nutritive Sweetness Solution of Sodium Saccharin or Rebaudioside a for Guinea Pigs: Influence on Histologic Change and Expression of Sweet Taste Receptors in Testis and Epididymis.Frontiers in nutrition · 2021Article
- Whole-Brain Mapping of the Expression Pattern ofFrontiers in neuroanatomy · 2021Article
- Expression of Taste Receptor 2 Subtypes in Human Testis and Sperm.Journal of clinical medicine · 2020Article
- Taste Receptors in Upper Airway Innate Immunity.Nutrients · 2019Review
- Taste Receptors: New Players in Sperm Biology.International journal of molecular sciences · 2019Review
- Therapeutic potential of ectopic olfactory and taste receptors.Nature reviews. Drug discovery · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
TAS1R taste receptors and their associated heterotrimeric G protein gustducin are involved in sugar and amino acid sensing in taste cells and in the gastrointestinal tract. They are also strongly expressed in testis and sperm, but their functions in these tissues were previously unknown. Using mouse models, we show that the genetic absence of both TAS1R3, a component of sweet and amino acid taste receptors, and the gustducin α-subunit GNAT3 leads to male-specific sterility. To gain further insight into this effect, we generated a mouse model that expressed a humanized form of TAS1R3 susceptible to inhibition by the antilipid medication clofibrate. Sperm formation in animals without functional TAS1R3 and GNAT3 is compromised, with malformed and immotile sperm. Furthermore, clofibrate inhibition of humanized TAS1R3 in the genetic background of Tas1r3(-/-), Gnat3(-/-) doubly null mice led to inducible male sterility. These results indicate a crucial role for these extraoral "taste" molecules in sperm development and maturation. We previously reported that blocking of human TAS1R3, but not mouse TAS1R3, can be achieved by common medications or chemicals in the environment. We hypothesize that even low levels of these compounds can lower sperm count and negatively affect human male fertility, which common mouse toxicology assays would not reveal. Conversely, we speculate that TAS1R3 and GNAT3 activators may help infertile men, particularly those that are affected by some of the mentioned inhibitors and/or are diagnosed with idiopathic infertility involving signaling pathway of these receptors.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.