ABSTRACT: Perception and preferences for food and beverages determine dietary behaviour and health outcomes. Inherent differences in chemosensory genes, ethnicity, geo-climatic conditions, and sociocultural practices are other determinants. We aimed to study the variation landscape of chemosensory genes involved in perception of taste, texture, odour, temperature and burning sensations through analysis of 1,029 genomes of the IndiGen project and diverse continental populations. SNPs from 80 chemosensory genes were studied in whole genomes of 1,029 IndiGen samples and 2054 from the 1000 Genomes project. Population genetics approaches were used to infer ancestry of IndiGen individuals, gene divergence and extent of differentiation among studied populations. 137,760 SNPs including common and rare variants were identified in IndiGenomes with 62,950 novel (46%) and 48% shared with the 1,000 Genomes. Genes associated with olfaction harbored most SNPs followed by those associated with differences in perception of salt and pungent tastes. Across species, receptors for bitter taste were the most diverse compared to others. Three predominant ancestry groups within IndiGen were identified based on population structure analysis. We also identified 1,184 variants that exhibit differences in frequency of derived alleles and high population differentiation (FST ≥0.3) in Indian populations compared to European, East Asian and African populations. Examples include ADCY10, TRPV1, RGS6, OR7D4, ITPR3, OPRM1, TCF7L2, and RUNX1. This is a first of its kind of study on baseline variations in genes that could govern cuisine designs, dietary preferences and health outcomes. This would be of enormous utility in dietary recommendations for precision nutrition both at population and individual level.
