Genetics may help determine how good your meal tastes, according to a report published May 2 in the open access journal PLoS ONE.
The study investigated how people with different versions of the gene for an odor receptor gene, which is sensitive to a specific compound naturally present in pig meat, rated the taste of different pork samples. In both smell and taste tests, participants' response depended on the version of the gene they had, with one version resulting in more favorable responses than the other.
The report sheds light on the reasons for the controversies around the need for sorting entire male pork meat according to androstenone content.
The researchers are from Animalia/ Nofima/Norwegian University of Life Sciences in Norway, and from Duke University Medical Center/ Monell Chemical Senses Center in the U.S.
Citation: Lunde K, Egelandsdal B, Skuterud E, Mainland JD, Lea T, et al. (2012) Genetic Variation of an Odorant Receptor OR7D4 and Sensory Perception of Cooked Meat Containing Androstenone. PLoS ONE 7(5): e35259. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035259
Financial Disclosure: Norwegian Research Council for its grant to this activity through project number 63164, ''Boar meat-consumer aspects and exploitation of resources.''JM is supported by a United States National Institutes of Health (NIH)-NRSA fellowship and DC011373 and HM is supported by the NIH (DC005782 and DC010857).The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing Interest Statement: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
PLEASE LINK TO THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE IN ONLINE VERSIONS OF YOUR REPORT (URL goes live after the embargo ends): http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035259
Disclaimer: This press release refers to upcoming articles in PLoS ONE. The releases have been provided by the article authors and/or journal staff. Any opinions expressed in these are the personal views of the contributors, and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of PLoS. PLoS expressly disclaims any and all warranties and liability in connection with the information found in the release and article and your use of such information.
About PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE is the first journal of primary research from all areas of science to employ a combination of peer review and post-publication rating and commenting, to maximize the impact of every report it publishes. PLoS ONE is published by the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the open-access publisher whose goal is to make the world's scientific and medical literature a public resource.
All works published in PLoS ONE are Open Access. Everything is immediately available—to read, download, redistribute, include in databases and otherwise use—without cost to anyone, anywhere, subject only to the condition that the original authors and source are properly attributed. For more information about PLoS ONE relevant to journalists, bloggers and press officers, including details of our press release process and our embargo policy, see the everyONE blog at http://everyone.plos.org/media.
Journal
PLoS ONE