Taste receptor type 2 member 18 pseudogene (TAS2R18P)

Taste receptor type 2 member 18 pseudogene (TAS2R18P) is one of the human type 2 taste receptor (TAS2R) family pseudogenes that has lost its ability to code for a functional protein, either through the accumulation of disabling mutations or through evolutionary processes[1][3]. TAS2R18P is related by sequence to the family of G protein-coupled receptors (specifically bitter taste receptors) but contains frameshift insertions and a species-specific stop codon that disrupt its reading frame, making the gene non-functional in modern humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans[1]. While TAS2R18P itself is non-functional in living humans, its evolutionary history suggests it may once have encoded a specialized bitter taste receptor shortly after the human–chimpanzee divergence. It became a pseudogene before the divergence of modern and archaic human lineages. TAS2R18P is not associated with any known biomarkers, drug interactions, or therapeutic applications; it has importance primarily in the study of evolution and human population genetics[1][3].

Other names

TAS2R18PTAS2R18TAS2R65PTAS2R65T2R18T2R65PS4Taste 2 receptor member 18, pseudogeneTaste receptor, type 2, member 18, pseudogeneTaste receptor, type 2, member 65, pseudogene

Not applicable; no functional receptor is produced.