into foods the identified nonfat compounds that have the taste of fat application_number US 99693506 A description the present application is based in part on the discovery of fat taste receptors and the proteins that make up fat taste receptors the proteins are members of a class of proteins known as g protein coupled receptors or gpcrs and include gpr40 and gpr120 the inventors have shown that these receptors are present in taste tissue in cells that express trpm5 a key taste signal transduction protein furthermore they have shown that mice lacking a functional gpr40 gene gpr40 knockout mice have diminished preference for and intake of corn oil intralipid lauric acid and oleic acid together these data demonstrate that gpr120 and gpr40 are fat taste receptors and can be utilized as a screening tool for compounds that mimic fat taste such compounds can be incorporated into foods as fat replacers fat taste receptor proteins have been identified in part by analogy to the bitter sweet and umami compound taste phenomenon in which the taste sensation is initiated by tastants binding to g protein coupled receptors gpcrs in addition it has been observed that gpr40 and gpr120 two gpcrs are activated in vivo and in vitro by long and medium chain fatty acids gpr40 is mainly expressed in the pancreas and stimulates insulin secretion in response to medium and long chain free fatty acids gpr120 is expressed in the intestines and lungs and upon stimulation by long chain fatty acids leads to increased glp1 secretion the two receptors have partially overlapping but not identical.