. Scientists have known about the roles this protein plays in the body from taste perception in the tongue, sensing blood sugar levels in the pancreas and even aiding in the battle of parasites in the small intestine, but the structure is so small that roughly 5,000 of them could fit across the width of a human hair. Getting a clear image has been a challenge.
For example, the scientists knew calcium was key to the protein’s function but only knew of one bonding site for the ion. Through their research they were able to find an additional calcium site no one else knew about. TRPM5 comes from a family of eight proteins that respond to different stimuli such as temperature, pressure or pain. For example, TRPM8 is responsible for signaling cold sensations to the brain while TRPM3 alerts its host to noxious heat — such as when touching something hot, Lu says. In addition to TRPM5, the couple’s lab has also solved the structure for TRPM4 which is a related taste-signaling protein to TRPM5 and TRPM2 which is responsible for signaling heat due to a fever.
An artificial sweetener born out of this research would be unlike current options because it would attempt to appease both the flavor-flagging TRPM5 proteins in the tongue while also addressing the TRPM5 proteins that live in the gut.