Gustducin is a G protein associated with basic taste and the gustatory system. Due to its relatively recent discovery and isolation, not all is known about its nature and its associated pathways. It is known that it plays a large role in the transduction of bitter, sweet and umami stimuli and that its pathways (especially for detecting bitter stimuli) are many and diverse. Perhaps the most intriguing feature of gustducin is its similarity to transducin. These two G proteins have been shown to be structurally and functionally similar, leading researchers to believe that the sense of taste evolved in a similar fashion to the sense of sight.
Gustducin is a heterotrimeric protein composed of the products of the GNAT3 (α-subunit), GNB1 (β-subunit) and GNG13 (γ-subunit) genes.
Read more about Gustducin: Discovery, Comparisons With Transducin, Evolution of The Gustducin-mediated Signaling Model, Gustducin and Its Second Messengers, Bitter Transduction, Sweet Transduction, Evolution of Bitter Taste Receptors, Gustducin in The Stomach