Citizen Science Is Helping Scientists Uncover the Genetics of Taste

By: Megan Ray Nichols Genetics plays an enormous role in our lives, even if we don’t always realize it. Have you ever wondered why some people love cilantro, and it tastes like soap to others? While it might all be in your head, chances are it’s actually in your genes. 23andMe, the company offering a genetics kit to get your DNA mapped and explained, conducted a study to see if taste was genetic. They pinpointed the genes signifying cilantro should taste like soap instead of taco toppings. Cilantro isn’t the only thing that might taste a little weird to some people — genes also affect how people perceive the tastes of things like PTC — powdered phenylthiocarbamide, an inherently bitter substance — as well as milk and sweet or sugary foods. However, because of the sheer number of subjects that it takes to find just one specific gene related to taste, it can be hard to consolidate enough genetic candidates for individual labs. That’s where citizen science comes in. The Genetics of Taste Citizen science is a colloquial name for a growing trend of crowdsourced science experiments. Rather than restricting their pool of genetic candidates to one lab or one demographic area, researchers are able to source information from information volunteered by thousands of citizen scientists from around the globe.