ISHIMARU YOSHIRO    Department   Undergraduate School  , School of Agriculture    Position   Professor
Research Period	2013/04～2015/03
Research Topic	Characterization of sweet taste receiving cells in the gut and analysis of their cellular functions
Research Type	KAKENHI Research
Consignor	Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Research Program Type	Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
KAKENHI Grant No.	25560046
Responsibility	Collaborative Researcher
Representative Person	ABE Keiko
Collaborative Researcher	ISHIMARU Yoshiro
Details	The transcription factor Skn-1a was found to be expressed not only in taste cells but also in gut brush cells. Also, it was involved in their differentiation. Mice with deleted Skn-1a (S-KO) and wild type mice showed similar food intakes when fed on a standard diet (AIN 93G) and on a high-fat diet. Despite that, S-KO mice were significantly different from wild type mice is terms of body weight decrease, body fat reduction, insulin secretion decrease at the time of OGTT, serum ketone body elevation, and so on. This indicates that lipid metabolism is more activated in Skn-1a mice and also that their brush border cells function possibly as an energy sensor.