Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wg55d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-17T00:20:54.678Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Taste Thresholds in Twins and Siblings12

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

A. R. Kaplan ,
R. Fischer ,
A. Karras ,
F. Griffin ,
W. Powell ,
R. W. Marsters  and
E. V. Glanville
A. R. Kaplan
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
R. Fischer
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
A. Karras
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
F. Griffin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
W. Powell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
R. W. Marsters
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
E. V. Glanville
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio

Summary

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Monozygotic twin (MZ), dizygotic twin (DZ), and sibling (SIB) pairs were taste-tested for hydrochloric acid, 1-quinine sulfate, and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). The numbers of pairs involved were 75 MZ, 70 DZ, and 78 SIB, for the latter two compounds; 26, 45, and 45, respectively, for the acid.

There was a significant difference in intrapair variance, between the MZ and the same-sex DZ pairs, in thresholds for bitter-tasting 6-n-propylthiouracil (p < .001). The difference in intrapair threshold variance was not significant for bitter-tasting quinine (p > .05) or for sour-tasting hydrochloric acid (p > .10).

The male MZ pairs had a significantly lower intrapair threshold variance than the male DZ or male SIB pairs for hydrochloric acid (p < .01), but the female pairs manifested no such difference. The intrapair variance in hydrochloric acid threshold was significantly less for the nine male MZ pairs than for the 17 female MZ pairs (p < .02).

Repeated taste tests on the same subjects reproduced results similar within a single threshold range in a high proportion for each compound: for hydrochloric acid, 72.9% (N = 44); for quinine, 76.9% (N = 221); and for PROP, 76% (N = 225).

Correlations between thresholds for the different substances were positive and significant (N = 308): between PROP and quinine, r = + 0.44 ± .05 (p < .01); between quinine and hydrochloric acid, r = + 0.35 ± .05 (p < .01); between PROP and hydrochloric acid, r = + 0.17 ± .06 (p < .05).

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 1967 , pp. 229 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1967

Footnotes

1

The study was made possible by support from the State of Ohio, Department of Mental Hygiene and Correction, Division of Mental Hygiene. Funds for the investigations were provided primarily by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Number HD-05581-02. Additional support was partially derived from two other National Institutes of Health grants, Number GRS-055630 and GRS-4271; and from a research grant awarded by the Council for Tobacco Research, U.S.A.

2

Preliminary data were presented in part at the Human Genetics Section of the Eleventh International Congress of Genetics in The Hague, The Netherlands, September, 1963.

References

Ardashnikov, S. N. et al. (1936). The diagnosis of zygosity in twins (Three instances of difference in taste acuity in identical twins). J. Hered., 27: 465–468.Google Scholar
Blakeslee, A. F. (1932). Genetics of sensory thresholds: taste for phenylthiocarbamide. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 18: 120–130.Google Scholar
Blakeslee, A. F., Salmon, M. R. (1931). Odor and taste blindness. Eug. News, 16: 105–109.Google Scholar
Das, S. R. (1956). A contribution to the heredity of the P.T.C. taste character based on a study of 845 sib-pairs. Ann. Hum. Genet., 20: 334–343.Google Scholar
Das, S. R. (1957). Inheritance of the P.T.C. taste character in man: An analysis of 126 Rarhi Brahmin families of West Bengal. Ann. Hum. Genet., 22: 200–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dencker, S. J. et al. (1959). An investigation of the PTC taste character in monochorionic twin pairs. Acta Genet., 9: 236–244.Google ScholarPubMed
Eichholtz, F. (1956). Die toxische Gesamtsituation auf dem Gebiet der menschlichen Ernährung. Springer Verlag, Berlin.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fischer, R., Griffin, F. (1964). Pharmacogenetic aspects of gustation. Drug Research (Arzneim.-Forsch.) 14: 673–686.Google Scholar
Fischer, R., Griffin, F. et al. (1961). Biochemical-genetic factors in taste polymorphism and their relation to salivary thyroid metabolism in health and mental retardation. Med. Exp., 4: 356–366.Google ScholarPubMed
Fischer, R., Griffin, F. et al. (1965). The perception of taste: some psychophysiological, pathophysiological, and clinical aspects. In: Psychopathology of Perception. Hoch, P. & Zubin, J. Ed. (New York: Grune & Stratton): 129–164.Google Scholar
Fox, A. L. (1931). Tasteblindness. Science (Suppl.) 73: 14.Google Scholar
Fox, A. L. (1932). The relation between chemical constitution and taste. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 18: 115–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glanville, E. V., Kaplan, A. R. (1965). The menstrual cycle and sensitivity of taste perception. Amer. J. Obst. Gyn., 92: 189–194.Google Scholar
Harris, H., Kalmus, H. (1949). The measurement of taste sensitivity to phenylthiourea (P.T.C.) Ann. Eugen., 15: 24–31 and 32–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, H., Kalmus, H. (1951). The distribution of taste thresholds for phenylthiourea of 384 sib pairs. Ann. Eugen., 16: 226–230.Google Scholar
Hartmann, G. (1939). Application of individual taste difference towards phenyl-thio-carbamide in genetic investigations. Ann. Eugen., 9: 123–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmus, H. (1957). Defective colour vision, P.T.C. tasting, and drepanocytosis in samples from fifteen Brazilian populations. Ann. Hum. Genet., 21: 313–317.Google Scholar
Kalmus, H. (1358). Improvements in the classification of the taster genotype. Ann. Hum. Genet., 22: 222–230.Google Scholar
Kalmus, H. (1958). Improvements in the classification of the taster genotype. Ann. Hum. Genet., 22: 222–230.Google Scholar
Kaplan, A. R., Fischer, R. (1965). Taste sensitivity for bitterness: some biological and clinical implications. In: Recent Advances in Biological Psychiatry, Vol. VII, Wortis J. (New York: Plenum Press): 183–196.Google Scholar
Kaplan, A. R., Fischer, R. et al. (1965). Cumulative effect of age and smoking on taste sensitivity in males and females. J. Gerontol, 20: 334–337.Google Scholar
Kempthorne, O., Osborne, R. H. (1961). The interpretation of twin data. Amer J. Hum. Genet., 13: 320–339.Google Scholar
Lecuébe, A. (1960). Génétique et anthropologie de la sensibilité à la phénylthiocarbamide. Bull. Inst. Roy. Sci. Nat. Belgique, 26: 1–27.Google Scholar
Merton, B. B. (1958). Taste sensitivity to PTC in 60 Norwegian families with 176 children. Confirmation of the hypothesis of single gene inheritance. Acta Genet., 8: 114–128.Google Scholar
Rife, D. C. (1938). Contributions of the 1937 national twins convention to research. J. Hered., 29: 83–90.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, D. (1964). Discussion of Dr. Kallmann's paper. In: Recent Research in Schizophrenia. Solomon, P. & Glueck, B. C. Jr., Psychiatric Research Reports of the Amercian Psychiatric Association, 19: 146–148.Google Scholar
Skude, G. (1963). Some factors influencing taste perception for phenylthiourea (P.T.C). Hereditas, 50: 203–210.Google Scholar
Snyder, L. H. (1931). Inherited taste deficiency. Science, 74: 151–152.Google Scholar
Snyder, L. H. (1932). Studies in human inheritance. IX. The inheritance of taste deficiency in man. Ohio J. Sci., 32: 436–440.Google Scholar
Sutton, H. et al. (1962). The hereditary abilities study: genetic variation in human biochemical traits. Amer. J. Hum. Genet., 14: 64–82.Google ScholarPubMed
Verkade, P. E. el al. (1959). Investigations on taste blindness with thiocarbamides II (I). Intra-pair discrepancy of taste in pairs of identical twins. A. Ge. Me. Ge., 8: 361–368.Google Scholar
Winer, B. J. (1962). Statistical Principles in Experimental Design. McGraw-Hill, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar