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But what about milk sugar?
I wonder if they tested any pups/kittens? Milk is sweet and it's conceivable that the Tas1r2 gene is expressed in carnivore kittens and pups but not in adults.

This PLoS study, cited in the Nature paper, does not seem to rule that out.
http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.0010003

In support of my hypothesis I note (anecdotally) that two pet cats were very fond of milk as kittens but not as adults.

Jennie Dusheck


On Mar 12, 2012, at 8:10 PM, Charlie Carlson wrote:

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> http://www.nature.com/news/carnivores-pick-meats-over-sweets-1.10207
> 
> It all started with cats and their inability to taste sweet.  I'm hypothesizing that the inability to taste sweet, i.e. sugar like substances, extends to other aspects of organismal physiology.  It's not likely that sweet substances are of any use to them as a source of calories.  Gustation is in the eye of the genome.
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> C
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