ArticleGenome biology and evolution2014
Massive losses of taste receptor genes in toothed and baleen whales.
Article in Genome biology and evolution, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers.
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74 citing papers in PubMed, 141 citations in OpenAlex.
- On the Origin and Evolution of Sweet Taste Mediated by Tas1r2-Tas1r3 in Vertebrates.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Retention of Sweet Taste in Sirenians Reflects Ecological Adaptation in Marine Mammals.Integrative zoology · 2026Article
- Sensing Underwater: Diversifying Selection, Convergent Evolution and Inactivation in Sensory Receptors' Genes of Aquatic Mammals.Journal of molecular evolution · 2026Article
- Diving Into the Chemical World of Cetaceans: A Review on the Chemical Senses in Dolphins and Whales.Journal of chemical ecology · 2026Review
- Evolution in metazoans of the TRPM channel family involves multiple gains and losses of genes and domains.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Pseudogenes document protracted parallel regression of oral anatomy in myrmecophagous mammals.Molecular biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Molecular divergence ofZoological research · 2026Article
- Article
- Relaxation of selective constraint on the sweet-taste receptor gene TAS1R2 in lorisiform primates.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The evolutionary path of the epithelial sodium channel δ-subunit in Cetartiodactyla points to a role in sodium sensing.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Taste receptors and their ecological niches: cats, dogs, and other vertebrates.Chemical senses · 2025Review
- Unexpected loss of TAS1R1-TAS1R3 umami taste receptor function in carnivorous Lyncodontini mustelids.Chemical senses · 2025Article
- Rapid expansion and specialization of the TAS2R bitter taste receptor family in amphibians.PLoS genetics · 2025Article
- The Remarkable Diversity of Vertebrate Bitter Taste Receptors: Recent Advances in Genomic and Functional Studies.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Evolution of ion channels in cetaceans: a natural experiment in the tree of life.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Synchronized Expansion and Contraction of Olfactory, Vomeronasal, and Taste Receptor Gene Families in Hystricomorph Rodents.Molecular biology and evolution · 2024Article
- Localized Expression of Olfactory Receptor Genes in the Olfactory Organ of Common Minke Whales.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- A chromosome-level genome of electric catfish (Marine life science & technology · 2024Article
- A vertebrate-wide catalogue of T1R receptors reveals diversity in taste perception.Nature ecology & evolution · 2024Article
- The evolution of bitter taste receptor gene in primates: Gene duplication and selection.Ecology and evolution · 2023Article
14 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Taste receptor genes are functionally important in animals, with a surprising exception in the bottlenose dolphin, which shows extensive losses of sweet, umami, and bitter taste receptor genes. To examine the generality of taste gene loss, we examined seven toothed whales and five baleen whales and sequenced the complete repertoire of three sweet/umami (T1Rs) and ten bitter (T2Rs) taste receptor genes. We found all amplified T1Rs and T2Rs to be pseudogenes in all 12 whales, with a shared premature stop codon in 10 of the 13 genes, which demonstrated massive losses of taste receptor genes in the common ancestor of whales. Furthermore, we analyzed three genome sequences from two toothed whales and one baleen whale and found that the sour taste marker gene Pkd2l1 is a pseudogene, whereas the candidate salty taste receptor genes are intact and putatively functional. Additionally, we examined three genes that are responsible for taste signal transduction and found the relaxation of functional constraints on taste signaling pathways along the ancestral branch leading to whales. Together, our results strongly suggest extensive losses of sweet, umami, bitter, and sour tastes in whales, and the relaxation of taste function most likely arose in the common ancestor of whales between 36 and 53 Ma. Therefore, whales represent the first animal group to lack four of five primary tastes, probably driven by the marine environment with high concentration of sodium, the feeding behavior of swallowing prey whole, and the dietary switch from plants to meat in the whale ancestor.
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