Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40309958›Full record

ArticleeLife2025

GPRC6A as a novel kokumi receptor responsible for enhanced taste preferences by ornithine.

Takashi Yamamoto, Kayoko Ueji, Haruno Mizuta, Chizuko Inui-Yamamoto, Natsuko Kumamoto, Yasuhiro Shibata, Shinya Ugawa

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
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  5. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Takashi YamamotoDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences, Kio University, Nara, Japan.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0132-2936
Kayoko UejiDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences, Kio University, Nara, Japan.
Haruno MizutaDepartment of Nutrition, Faculty of Human Sciences, Kio University, Nara, Japan.
Chizuko Inui-YamamotoDepartment of Oral Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Osaka University Graduate School of Dentistry, Osaka, Japan.
Natsuko KumamotoDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan.
Yasuhiro ShibataDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan.
Shinya UgawaDepartment of Anatomy and Neuroscience, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University, Nagoya, Japan.

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JP17K00835Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JP22K11803
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The concept of 'kokumi', which refers to an enhanced and more delicious flavor of food, has recently generated considerable interest in food science. However, kokumi has not been well studied in gustatory physiology, and the underlying neuroscientific mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Our previous research demonstrated that ornithine (L-ornithine), which is abundant in shijimi clams, enhanced taste preferences in mice. The present study aimed to build on these findings and investigate the mechanisms responsible for kokumi in rats. In two-bottle preference tests, the addition of ornithine, at a low concentration that did not increase the favorability of this substance alone, enhanced the animals' preferences for umami, sweet, fatty, salty, and bitter solutions, with the intake of monosodium glutamate showing the most significant increase. Additionally, a mixture of umami and ornithine synergistically induced significant responses in the chorda tympani nerve, which transmits taste information to the brain from the anterior part of the tongue. The observed preference enhancement and increase in taste-nerve response were abolished by antagonists of the G-protein-coupled receptor family C group 6 subtype A (GPRC6A). Furthermore, immunohistochemical analysis indicated that GPRC6A was expressed in a subset of type II taste cells in rat fungiform papillae. These results provide new insights into flavor-enhancement mechanisms, confirming that ornithine is a kokumi substance and GPRC6A is a novel kokumi receptor.

Indexed as

Food PreferencesOrnithineReceptors, G-Protein-CoupledTasteAnimalsChorda Tympani NerveMaleRatsRats, Sprague-DawleyOrnithineReceptors, G-Protein-CoupledGPRC6Akokumineuroscienceornithinerat

Identifiers

PMID40309958
PMCPMC12045618

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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.