Bitter compounds elicit an aversive response. In Drosophila, bitter-sensitive taste neurons coexpress many members of the Gr family of taste receptors. However, the molecular logic of bitter signaling is unknown. We used an in vivo expression approach to analyze the logic of bitter taste signaling. Ectopic or overexpression of bitter Grs increased endogenous responses or conferred novel respons...

A growing literature suggests taste stimuli commonly classified as "bitter" induce heterogeneous neural and perceptual responses. Here, the central processing of bitter stimuli was studied in mice with genetically controlled bitter taste profiles. Using these mice removed genetic heterogeneity as a factor influencing gustatory neural codes for bitter stimuli. Electrophysiological activity (spik...

BACKGROUND Bitter cumin (Centratherum anthelminticum (L.) Kuntze), is a medicinally important plant. Earlier, we have reported phenolic compounds, antioxidant, and anti-hyperglycemic, antimicrobial activity of bitter cumin. In this study we have further characterized the antioxidative activity of bitter cumin extracts in various in vitro models. METHODS Bitter cumin seeds were extracted with ...

Cats are obligate carnivores and under most circumstances eat only animal products. Owing to the pseudogenization of one of two subunits of the sweet receptor gene, they are indifferent to sweeteners, presumably having no need to detect plant-based sugars in their diet. Following this reasoning and a recent report of a positive correlation between the proportion of dietary plants and the number...

in order to investigate the possibility of planting grass pea and common vetch crops after harvesting wheat and to evaluate the effects of  green manure of these crops on yield of potato-wheat in croprotation cycle, this research was carried out using a randomized complete block design with four replications during 2006-2010 at khair-abad research station, zanjan, iran. the treatments were eith...

Humans perceive thousands of compounds as bitter. In sharp contrast, only approximately 25 taste 2 receptors (TAS2R) bitter taste receptors have been identified, raising the question as to how the vast array of bitter compounds can be detected by such a limited number of sensors. To address this issue, we have challenged 25 human taste 2 receptors (hTAS2Rs) with 104 natural or synthetic bitter ...

Weeds may be suppressed by winter cover crops and the use of organic herbicides such as vinegar. Black oat (Avena strigosa) and hairy vetch (Vicia villosa) winter cover crops were planted for 2 years as part of a sustainable production system for cotton in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas, and were till-killed each spring prior to cotton planting. Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri), commo...

Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK 2 School of Biological Analysis of the nodulation characteristics of transposon-induced mutants of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae revealed that nodO and the closely-linked rhi genes contribute t o nodulation of peas (Pisum sativum) and the vetch Vicia hirsuta. Although mutation of nodO alone had no significant effect on nodulation of ...

Legumes and brassicas have much in common: importance in agricultural history, rich biodiversity, numerous forms of use, high adaptability to diverse farming designs, and various non-food applications. Rare available resources demonstrate intercropping legumes and brassicas as beneficial to both, especially for the latter, profiting from better nitrogen nutrition. Our team aimed at designing a ...

The western cherry fruit fly, Rhagoletis indifferens Curran (Diptera: Tephritidae), is an endemic herbivore of bitter cherry, Prunus emarginata (Douglas ex Hooker) Eaton, but ∼100 years ago established on earlier-fruiting domesticated sweet cherry, Prunus avium (L.) L. Here, we determined if eclosion times of adult R. indifferens from sweet and bitter cherry differ according to the phenology of...