MOLECULAR BASIS OF
SAMUEL
ADAMS BEER PREFERENCE. S.J.
Moorman, C.M. Pignatelli, E. Sciacchetano,
M.K. Desai, G. Sokunbi, and J. Hoff. Department of Neuroscience
and Cell
Biology. Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway, NJ.
Samuel Adams Beer
(SAB) has a distinctive taste and aroma preferred
by selective beer drinkers and C57black mice 3-to-1 over either Miller
or
Budweiser. To determine the molecular basis of this preference,
we identified
and cloned two genes, sam2-d and adms. Their protein products are
necessary
for the distinctive taste and aroma of SAB. We also identified
the genes,
rsam2-d and radms, encoding the receptors for these molecules.
Sam2-d encodes
a tastant molecule expressed in only one species of hops and adms
encodes
an odorant molecule from a second species of hops. These
species (proprietary
information) are two of the species used in making SAB. When SAB
was brewed
using either Sam2-d knockout hops or adms knockout hops, the preference
for
SAB over Miller or Budweiser was abolished in both the human beer
drinkers
and C57black mice. Curiously, when presented with a choice
between SAB and
Miller or Budweiser, rsam2-d knockout mice preferred Miller and radms
knockout
mice preferred Budweiser. To determine whether these molecules
and receptors
are responsible for the beer preference, we generated a transgenic
tomato
plant that expressed both sam2-d and adms and used tomatoes from this
plant
to make tomato juice. Usually, both human beer drinkers and C57
black mice
do not actively chose to drink tomato juice prior to drinking SAB,
Miller
or Budweiser. However, the tomato juice made from the transgenic
tomatoes
was preferred 3-to-1 over either Miller or Budweiser. These
findings support
the idea that the distinctive taste and aroma of SAB interact to give
SAB
the flavor that results in SAB being preferred over other beers.
This report
represents the first publication of the molecular basis of Samuel Adams
Beer
preference within both the human and mouse population.
(last revised 31 March 2004)
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