Physiology and Biophysics Faculty

Research Interests

In all mammals, the sense of taste originates in clusters of cells called taste buds. Some of the cells in taste buds are specialized for detecting taste compounds and possess receptor proteins that bind classes of molecules. Expression of different taste receptor genes thus results in a cellular diversity among the individual cells within taste buds. My research group uses a combination of gene expression profiling, molecular and functional analyses to examine taste function from initial molecular recognition to transduction to synaptic transmission to sensory coding.

We have shown that taste cells are differentiated and diversified not only to detect different classes of taste compounds (sweet, umami, sour etc.) but also differ in the transduction pathways they deploy, in the neurotransmitters they synthesize, and in the mechanisms they use to secrete neurotransmitters. We have developed strains of transgenic mice that allow us to identify each class of cells in living preparations and functionally image their responses to taste compounds and to physiological stimuli.

Recently, we have also developed transgenic mice that express a genetically encoded reporter for cAMP, a key second messenger. Expression of this reporter can be induced in any tissue or cell type, including many in which cAMP regulation is of clinical importance. For instance, we are currently interested in the insulinotropic effect of cAMP in beta cells of pancreatic islets.

• Google Scholar Citations
• PubMed Citations

Selected Publications

1. Kim JW, C Roberts, S Berg, A Caicedo, SD Roper and  N Chaudhari (2008) Imaging cyclic AMP changes in pancreatic islets of transgenic reporter mice. PloS ONE, in press.
2. Dvoryanchikov G, SM Tomchik and N Chaudhari (2007) Biogenic amine synthesis and uptake in rodent taste buds. J Comp Neurol, 505:302-313.
3. Tomchik SM, Berg S, Kim JW, Chaudhari N, Roper SD (2007)  Breadth of tuning and taste coding in mammalian taste buds.  J Neurosci, 27:10840-10848.
   
4. Huang YJ, Maruyama Y, Dvoryanchikov G, Pereira E, Chaudhari N, Roper SD. (2007) The role of pannexin 1 hemichannels in ATP release and cell-cell communication in mouse taste buds. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 104: 6436-6441.
5. DeFazio RA, Dvoryanchikov G, Maruyama Y, Kim JW, Pereira E, Roper SD, Chaudhari N. (2006) Separate populations of receptor cells and presynaptic cells in mouse taste buds. J Neurosci. 26: 3971-80.
6. Trubey KR, Culpepper S, Maruyama Y, Kinnamon SC, Chaudhari N. (2006)   Tastants evoke cAMP signal in taste buds that is independent of calcium signaling.  Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 291: C237-44.
7. Maruyama Y, Pereira E, Margolskee RF, Chaudhari N, Roper SD. (2006).  Umami responses in mouse taste cells indicate more than one receptor. J Neurosci. 26: 2227-34.
8. Landin AM, Kim JW, Chaudhari N. (2005) Liposome-mediated transfection of mature taste cells. J Neurobiol. 65: 12-21.
9. Abaffy T, Trubey KR, Chaudhari N (2003) Adenylyl cyclase expression and modulation of cAMP in rat taste cells. Am.J.Physiol.Cell Physiol 284: C1420-1428.  
10. Chaudhari N, Kinnamon SC (2001) Molecular basis of the sweet tooth? Lancet 358: 2101-2.
11. Chaudhari N, Landin AM, Roper SD (2000) A metabotropic glutamate receptor variant functions as a taste receptor. Nature Neurosci. 3 (2): 113-119.
12. Chaudhari N, Delay R, Beam KG (1989) Restoration of normal function in genetically defective myotubes by spontaneous fusion with fibroblasts. Nature 341: 445-447.

Curriculum Vitae

• 1971 B.Sc. Poona, India
• 1980 Ph.D. University of South Carolina
• 1980-86 Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Colorado School of Medicine
• 1987-1995 Assistant Professor, Colorado State University
• 1995-2002 Associate Professor, Dept. Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami School of Medicine
• 2002-present  Professor, Dept. Physiology and Biophysics, University of Miami School of Medicine