Team SuPeR

The team aims to elucidate the mechanisms by which sapid molecules (mainly sugars) are detected at peripheral and brain levels, from receptor to whole-organism consequences.

Our research activities are subdivided into 3 main areas: 1) the molecular mechanisms underlying chemosensory perception of sapid molecules (taste receptors : umami, sweet and bitter taste), the perception of some sweet proteins (brazein and monellin) or taste-modifying proteins (miraculin, gurmarin); 2) the molecular mechanisms that enable peripheral (oral) perception of sugars/sweeteners and their central (hypothalamic) detection, depending on taste receptors or not, as well as  their effects on the control of food consumption, food choice/preference and metabolism regulation in physiological and pathological (diabetes, obesity) states in mice ; 3) the structure/activity relationships on sweet-taste receptor TAS1R2/TAS1R3 of the natural glycosylated secondary metabolites, such as saponins, after extraction and purification by various chromatographic methods then spectral analysis (2D NMR).

Our work, that ultimately aims to better understand gustatory perception and its importance in human physiology, combines a variety of approaches, from molecular and cellular biology, biochemistry, pharmacognosy and structural biology to integrated studies of the central nervous system and the whole organism, using both in vitro and rodent models.

Corinne Leloup (Amiot), PhD, UBE Full Professor and Anne-Claire Mitaine-Offer, PhD, UBE Full Professor

Permanents:

• Christine Belloir, PhD, INRAE Researcher
• François Bousquet, PhD, UBE Associate Professor 
• Loïc Briand, PhD, INRAE Senior Researcher
• Simon Dessertaine, UBE Technical Staff
• Claude Everaerts, PhD, CNRS Researcher 
• Philippe Faure, PhD, UBE Associate Professor 
• Marie-Annick Maire, INRAE Technical Staff 
• Lucie Moitrier, INRAE Technical Staff 
• David Pertuit, UBE Assistant Researcher 
• Nicolas Poirier, INRAE Technical Staff 

Non permanents:

• Basma Abed, PhD, Postdoctoral researcher
• Savanah Buiret, PhD student
• Sandrine Chometton, PhD, INRAE Tenure-Track Junior Professor Chair 
• Clémence Cornut, PhD student
• Thomas Delompré, PhD, INRAE Postdoctoral researcher 
• Joulia Haydar, PhD student
• Efstathia Karachaliou, PhD student
• Adeline Karolkowski, PhD, INRAE Postdoctoral researcher 

• Chometton S, Tsan L, Hayes AMR, Kanoski SE, Schier LA (2023). Early-life influences of low-calorie sweetener consumption on sugar taste. Physiol Behav. 264:114133. doi: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2023. 114133.
• Carneiro L, Fenech C, Liénard F, Grall S, Abed B, Haydar J, Allard C, Desmoulins L, Paccoud R, Brindisi MC, Mouillot T, Brondel L, Fioramonti X, Pénicaud L, Jacquin-Piques A, Leloup C (2023). Hypothalamic Glucose Hypersensitivity-Induced Insulin Secretion in the Obese Zücker Rat Is Reversed by Central Ghrelin Treatment. Antioxid Redox Signal. doi: 10.1089/ars.2022.0031.
• Karolkowski A, Belloir C, Lucchi G, Martin C, Bouzidi E, Levavasseur L, Salles C, Briand L (2023). Activation of bitter taste receptors by saponins and alkaloids identified in faba beans (Vicia faba L. minor). Food Chem. 426:136548. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2023.136548.
• Nazaryan S, Bruguière A, Hovhannisyan N, Miyamoto T, Dias AMM, Bellaye PS, Collin B, Briand L, Mitaine-Offer AC (2023). Oleanolic Acid Glycosides from Scabiosa caucasica and Scabiosa ochroleuca: Structural Analysis and Cytotoxicity. Molecules. 28(11):4329. doi: 10.3390/molecules28114329.
• Hobloss S, Bruguière A, Pertuit D, Miyamoto T, Tanaka C, Belloir C, Lacaille-Dubois MA, Briand L, Mitaine-Offer AC (2022). Activation of a Sweet Taste Receptor by Oleanane-Type Glycosides from Wisteria sinensis. Molecules, 27, 7866. doi: 10.3390/molecules27227866.
• Chometton S, Jung AH, Mai L, Dal Bon T, Ramirez AO, Pittman DW, Schier LA (2022). A glucokinase-linked sensor in the taste system contributes to glucose appetite. Mol Metab. 64:101554. doi: 10.1016/ j.molmet.2022.
• Belloir C, Brulé M, Tornier L, Neiers F, Briand L (2021). Biophysical and functional characterization of the human TAS1R2 sweet taste receptor overexpressed in a HEK293S inducible cell line. Sci Rep. 11(1):22238. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-01731-3.
• Desmoulins L, Chrétien C, Paccoud R, Collins S, Cruciani-Guglielmacci C, Galinier A, Liénard F, Quinault A, Grall S, Allard C, Fenech C, Carneiro L, Mouillot T, Fournel A, Knauf C, Magnan C, Fioramonti X, Pénicaud L, Leloup C (2019). Mitochondrial Dynamin-Related Protein 1 (DRP1) translocation in response to cerebral glucose is impaired in a rat model of early alteration in hypothalamic glucose sensing. Mol Metab. 20:166-177. doi: 10.1016/j.molmet.2018.11.007.