Sophorolipid Biosurfactants Activate Taste Receptor Type 1 Member 3‐Mediated Taste Responses and Block Responses to Bitter Taste In Vitro and In Vivo

Abstract

AbstractSophorolipids (SL) are typically produced and secreted by select nonpathogenic yeast species (i.e., Candida) from renewable substrates. They are currently being used by industry on a limited basis in formulations for cleaning solutions as well as laundry and dishwashing detergents. Due to the nature of their chemical structure, it was hypothesized that SL would demonstrate taste‐sensory properties. In this study, SL were produced via fermentation on a mixed substrate platform with glucose and either palmitic acid, stearic acid, or oleic acid using Candida (currently reclassified as Starmerella) bombicola ATCC 22214. The taste properties of SL were determined using a single‐cell manual calcium imaging technique on cultured human fungiform taste papillae (HBO) cells. The results of those studies demonstrated that sweetener‐responsive HBO cells also respond to SL, and these responses are mediated by the type 1 taste receptors 3 (T1R3), because they were blocked by lactisole (a T1R3 receptor‐specific blocker). The involvement of the T1R3 receptor in SL recognition was confirmed via the chorda tympani nerve recording (CTNR) study in a (−/−) T1R3 knockout (KO) mouse model. We further demonstrated that SL are capable of blocking the bitter stimuli‐elicited responses both in HBO cells and in the CTNR study. This is the first report demonstrating that SL have taste‐sensory properties, which opens up numerous possibilities for practical applications of SL to ameliorate bitter tastes in foods and drugs and understand the potential source of dysgeusia in some patients.