Abstract: A survey on taste sensitivity to phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) in Xibe and Mongol nationa-lities was carried out in Yili district of Xinjiang, by using the threshold-method and totally1800 persons (1121 Xibes and 679 Mongols) were investigated. The result showed that percen-tage of non-tasters was 19.98% for Xibe and 15.17% for Mongol; the taster-blindness gene fre-quency of Xibe and Mongolwas0.4470 and 0.3895, respectively; and the mean taste thresholdwas8.53-1.25 for Xibe and 8.10t1.49 for M ongol.
The incidence of non-tasters jn one group(at age 17-- 50 years) was higher than that inanother group (at age 9--16 years). There was a significant difference in taste-blindness fre-quency between males and females in Mongol but not in Xibe.
The comparison by ABO blood- -group gene frequencies and tongue. -rolling ability betweennon-tasters and tasters showed no relationship to response.

Key words: Taste threshold for phenylthiocarbamide; Tonguerolling; Thyroid; Blood-group