Summary

In this experiment scientist are trying to learn how hummingbirds taste

nectar. The way to find out the answer to this question, scientist have to look
at the taste receptor of a hummingbird and compare it to something else.
There are three subunits T1R1, T1R2, T1R3 when T1R1 and T1R3 are paired
flavors from meat and cheeses are sensed. Many people think T1R2 is
responsible for sweet taste.
To find the answer the team cloned the taste receptors of a
hummingbird, chimney swift, chicken, and ten other bird species. Then they
looked at which subunits each bird possessed. None of the birds contained
T1R2 they all contained T1R1 and T1R2. When they looked at the
hummingbirds taste receptors the genes revealed that they had mutated.
Then they watched how the hummingbird, chimney swift, chicken T1R1 and
T1R3 receptors responded to amino acid. The chimney swift and the
chickens receptors reacted robustly to the amino acid. The hummingbird did
not react this way it had a strong response to sugars.
The team made chimeric T1R1-T1R3
receptors using parts from
the hummingbird genes and the chicken genes. They had found mutations
over the T1R1 and T1R3 receptors of the hummingbird. This is the reason
they taste sugar instead of meat and cheese.