The sweet taste receptor (STR) is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) responsible for mediating cellular responses to sweet stimuli. Early evidence suggests that elements of the STR signalling system are present beyond the tongue in metabolically active tissues, where it may act as an extraoral glucose sensor. This study aimed to delineate expression of the STR in extraoral tissues using publicly available RNA-sequencing repositories. Gene expression data was mined for all genes implicated in the structure and function of the STR, and control genes including highly expressed metabolic genes in relevant tissues, other GPCRs and effector G proteins with physiological roles in metabolism, and other GPCRs with expression exclusively outside the metabolic tissues. Since the physiological role of the STR in extraoral tissues is likely related to glucose sensing, expression was then examined in diseases related to glucose-sensing impairment such as type 2 diabetes. An aggregate co-expression network was then generated to precisely determine co-expression patterns among the STR genes in these tissues. We found that STR gene expression was negligible in human pancreatic and adipose tissues, and low in intestinal tissue. Genes encoding the STR did not show significant co-expression or connectivity with other functional genes in these tissues. In addition, STR expression was higher in mouse pancreatic and adipose tissues, and equivalent to human in intestinal tissue. Our results suggest that STR expression in mice is not representative of expression in humans, and the receptor is unlikely to be a promising extraoral target in human cardiometabolic disease.

中文翻译：

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与心脏代谢疾病治疗相关的 TAS1R 味觉受体基因表达分析

甜味受体 (STR) 是一种 G 蛋白偶联受体 (GPCR)，负责介导细胞对甜味刺激的反应。早期证据表明，STR 信号系统的元件存在于舌头之外的代谢活跃组织中，它可能充当口外葡萄糖传感器。本研究旨在利用公开的 RNA 测序库来描绘口外组织中 STR 的表达。挖掘与 STR 结构和功能有关的所有基因的基因表达数据，以及控制基因，包括相关组织中高表达的代谢基因、在代谢中具有生理作用的其他 GPCR 和效应 G 蛋白，以及仅在体外表达的其他 GPCR。代谢组织。由于口外组织中 STR 的生理作用可能与葡萄糖感应有关，因此随后在与葡萄糖感应损伤相关的疾病（例如 2 型糖尿病）中检查了表达。然后生成聚合共表达网络以精确确定这些组织中 STR 基因之间的共表达模式。我们发现 STR 基因表达在人类胰腺和脂肪组织中可以忽略不计，并且在肠道组织中表达较低。编码 STR 的基因没有显示出与这些组织中其他功能基因的显着共表达或连接。此外，STR在小鼠胰腺和脂肪组织中的表达较高，与人类肠道组织中的表达相当。我们的结果表明，小鼠中的 STR 表达并不能代表人类中的表达，并且该受体不太可能成为人类心脏代谢疾病的有前景的口外靶点。