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Strong association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference in the Japanese population revealed by genome-wide meta-analysis

Journal of Human Genetics volume 65, pages 939–947 (2020)Cite this article

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Abstract

The sweet taste preference of humans is an important adaptation to ensure the acquisition of carbohydrate nutrition; however, overconsumption of sweet foods can potentially lead to diseases such as obesity and diabetes. Although previous studies have suggested that interindividual variation of human sweet taste preference is heritable, genetic loci associated with the trait have yet to be fully elucidated. Here, we genotyped 12,312 Japanese participants using the HumanCore-12+ Custom BeadChip or the HumanCore-24 Custom BeadChip microarrays. The sweet taste preference of the participants was surveyed via an internet-based questionnaire, resulting in a five-point scale of sweet taste preference. The genome-wide meta-analysis of the Japanese participants revealed a strong association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference scale (P = 2.8 × 10−70). The lead variant rs671 is monoallelic in non-East Asian populations and is located in the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) gene, encoding an enzyme involved in alcohol metabolism. The association between the minor allele of rs671 and sweet taste preference was attenuated by adjusting for alcohol drinking. The subgroup analysis showed that the effect of rs671 on sweet taste preference was greater in males than in females. In conclusion, we found an association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference in the Japanese population, and showed that the adjustment for drinking habits attenuated the association. This novel genetic association may provide new clues to elucidate mechanisms determining sweet taste preferences.

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Data availability

The data generated or analyzed during the current study are included in this published article and its supplementary information file. The summary statistics of the imputed GWAS were deposited on Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3872916). Other data are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by Grants-in-Aid (Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, 16K14920 to HK) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Genequest Inc., Siba 5-29-11, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 108-0014, Japan

    Kaoru Kawafune, Tsuyoshi Hachiya, Shun Nogawa, Shoko Takahashi & Kenji Saito

  2. Genome Analytics Japan Inc., 15-1-3205 Tomihisa-cho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, 162-0067, Japan

    Tsuyoshi Hachiya

  3. Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8657, Japan

    Huijuan Jia, Kenji Saito & Hisanori Kato

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  1. Kaoru Kawafune
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Correspondence to Hisanori Kato.

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KK and SN are employees of Genequest Inc.; ST and KS are Board Members of Genequest Inc.; TH is a Board Member of Genome Analytics Japan Inc., and is an adviser of Genequest Inc. HJ and HK declare no potential conflict of interest.

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Kawafune, K., Hachiya, T., Nogawa, S. et al. Strong association between the 12q24 locus and sweet taste preference in the Japanese population revealed by genome-wide meta-analysis. J Hum Genet 65, 939–947 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s10038-020-0787-x

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