Danielle Reed

Member

Education

Ph.D., Psychology; Yale University

Research Summary

Quantitative genetics is concerned with the inheritance of those differences between individuals that are of a degree rather than of a kind; for instance, the threshold at which someone can experience bitterness or an odorant, or the degree of pleasure that comes from tasting sugars. An understanding of these differences is of fundamental significance and has led to important insights about the molecular mechanisms that underpin the biology of obesity, nutrition, taste and smell.

The focus of my work has been to understand the precise relationship between genotype and phenotype in both humans and rodents, as well as how development and environment can affect those relationships. This research is pursued using linkage analysis and association methods, both of which exploit the behavior of chromosomes during meiosis.

My collaborators and I have conducted projects with linkage analysis for saccharin preference in mice followed by positional cloning, which uncovered a protein that is now known to be the subunit of a sweet receptor (Tas1r3). Similar types of human family-based linkage studies assisted in the identification of a receptor on human chromosome 5 (TAS2R1), which is involved in the perception of the bitter compound propylthiouracil. Likewise, association studies helped to define how haplotypes of the bitter receptor TAS2R38 affect bitter taste perception.

Our ongoing work is aimed at understanding the heritability and molecular underpinnings of obesity and fat patterning; perceived sweet intensity of human twins; the relationship between olfactory receptor genotype and smell phenotypes; and the developmental aspects of genotype-phenotype relationships in human children.

Keywords

sweet, genetics, taste, smell, obesity, genomics, genetic mapping

Recent Publications

Reed, D. R.; Duke, F. F.; Ellis, H. K.; Rosazza, M. R.; Lawler, M. P.; Alarcon, L. K. and Tordoff, M. G. (In Press) “Body fat distribution and organ weights of 14 common strains and a 22-strain consomic panel of rats.” Physiology & Behavior.

Li, X.; Bachmanov, A. A.; Maehashi, K.; Li, W.; Lim, R.; Brand, J. G.; Beauchamp, G. K.; Reed, D. R.; Thai, C. and Floriano, W. B. (2011) “Sweet receptor gene variation and aspartame blindness in primates and other species.” Chemical Senses. 36.5, 453-475.

Reed, D. R.; Zhu, G.; Breslin, P. A. S.; Duke, F. F.; Henders, A. K.; Campbell, M. J.; Montgomery, G. W.; Medland, S. E.; Martin, N. G. and Wright, M. J. (2010) “The perception of quinine taste intensity is associated with common genetic variants in a bitter receptor cluster on chromosome 12.” Human Molecular Genetics. 19, 4278-4285.

Reed, D. R. and Margolskee, R.F. (2010) “Gustation genetics: sweet gustducin!” Chemical Senses. 35, 549-50.

Mennella, J. A.; Pepino, M. Y.; Duke, F. F. and Reed, D. R. (2010) “Psychophysical dissection of genotype effects on human bitter perception.” Chemical Senses. 36.2, 161-167.

Mennella, J. A.; Pepino, M. Y.; Duke, F. F. and Reed, D. R. (2010) “Age modifies the genotype-phenotype relationship for the bitter receptor TAS2R38.” BMC Genetics. 11, 60.

Pelchat, M. L.; Bykowski, C.; Duke, F. F. and Reed, D. R. (2010) “Excretion and perception of a characteristic odor in urine after asparagus ingestion: a psychophysical and genetic study.” Chemical Senses. 36.1, 9-17.

Reed, D. R. (2010) “Heritable variation in fat preference” in Fat Detection: Taste, Texture, and Post-Investive Effects. Eds. Montmayeur, J. P. & J. de Coutre. Boca Raton: CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group, 395-416.

Reed, D. R. and Knaapila, A. (2010) “Genetics of taste and smell: poisons and pleasures.” Progress in Molecular Biology and Translational Science. 94, 213-40.

Coldwell, S. E.; Oswald, T. K. and Reed, D. R. (2009) “A marker of growth differs between adolescents with high vs. low sugar preference.” Physiology & Behavior. 96, 574-80.

Lab Staff

Antti Knaapila, Postdoctoral Fellow (co-mentored with Charles Wysocki)
Sarah Lipchock, Postdoctoral Fellow (co-mentored with Julie A. Mennella)
Daniel Hwang, Senior Research Technician
Amin Khoshnevisan, Research Technician
Anna Lysenko, Research Technician
Mary Xia, Undergraduate