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Taste Thresholds in Twins and Siblings12

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2014

A. R. Kaplan ,
R. Fischer ,
A. Karras ,
F. Griffin ,
W. Powell ,
R. W. Marsters  and
E. V. Glanville
A. R. Kaplan
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
R. Fischer
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
A. Karras
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
F. Griffin
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
W. Powell
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
R. W. Marsters
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio
E. V. Glanville
Affiliation:
Dept. of Genetics, Cleveland Psychiatric Institute, Cleveland, Ohio

Summary

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Monozygotic twin (MZ), dizygotic twin (DZ), and sibling (SIB) pairs were taste-tested for hydrochloric acid, 1-quinine sulfate, and 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP). The numbers of pairs involved were 75 MZ, 70 DZ, and 78 SIB, for the latter two compounds; 26, 45, and 45, respectively, for the acid.

There was a significant difference in intrapair variance, between the MZ and the same-sex DZ pairs, in thresholds for bitter-tasting 6-n-propylthiouracil (p < .001). The difference in intrapair threshold variance was not significant for bitter-tasting quinine (p > .05) or for sour-tasting hydrochloric acid (p > .10).

The male MZ pairs had a significantly lower intrapair threshold variance than the male DZ or male SIB pairs for hydrochloric acid (p < .01), but the female pairs manifested no such difference. The intrapair variance in hydrochloric acid threshold was significantly less for the nine male MZ pairs than for the 17 female MZ pairs (p < .02).

Repeated taste tests on the same subjects reproduced results similar within a single threshold range in a high proportion for each compound: for hydrochloric acid, 72.9% (N = 44); for quinine, 76.9% (N = 221); and for PROP, 76% (N = 225).

Correlations between thresholds for the different substances were positive and significant (N = 308): between PROP and quinine, r = + 0.44 ± .05 (p < .01); between quinine and hydrochloric acid, r = + 0.35 ± .05 (p < .01); between PROP and hydrochloric acid, r = + 0.17 ± .06 (p < .05).

Type
Research Article
Information
Acta geneticae medicae et gemellologiae: twin research , Volume 16 , Issue 3 , July 1967 , pp. 229 - 243
Copyright
Copyright © The International Society for Twin Studies 1967

Footnotes

1

The study was made possible by support from the State of Ohio, Department of Mental Hygiene and Correction, Division of Mental Hygiene. Funds for the investigations were provided primarily by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Number HD-05581-02. Additional support was partially derived from two other National Institutes of Health grants, Number GRS-055630 and GRS-4271; and from a research grant awarded by the Council for Tobacco Research, U.S.A.

2

Preliminary data were presented in part at the Human Genetics Section of the Eleventh International Congress of Genetics in The Hague, The Netherlands, September, 1963.

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