The taste receptor type 1 (T1r) family perceives 'palatable' tastes. These receptors function as T1r2-T1r3 and T1r1-T1r3 heterodimers to recognize a wide array of sweet and umami (savory) tastes in sugars and amino acids. Nonetheless, it is unclear how diverse tastes are recognized by so few receptors. Here we present crystal structures of the extracellular ligand-binding domains (LBDs), the ta...

Bitter taste receptors (TAS2Rs or T2Rs) belong to the superfamily of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, which are the targets of >50% of drugs currently on the market. Canonically, T2Rs are located in taste buds of the tongue, where they initiate bitter taste perception. However, accumulating evidence indicates that T2Rs are widely expressed throughout the body and mediate diverse...

Considerable mechanistic data indicate there may be a sixth basic taste: fat. However, evidence demonstrating that the sensation of nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA, the proposed stimuli for "fat taste") differs qualitatively from other tastes is lacking. Using perceptual mapping, we demonstrate that medium and long-chain NEFA have a taste sensation that is distinct from other basic tastes (swee...

Facial expression changes characteristically with the emotions induced by basic tastes in humans. We tested the hypothesis that the five basic tastes also elicit unique responses in facial skin blood flow. Facial skin blood flow was measured using laser speckle flowgraphy in 16 healthy subjects before and during the application of basic taste stimuli in the oral cavity for 20 s. The skin blood ...

Objectives: The study investigated the functioning of the taste and smell senses in workers employed at a sewage treatment plant and waste landfill. Materials and Methods: The study population was divided into three groups: sewage workers (group 1), landfill workers (group 2), and laboratory workers (group 3). Smell sensation was assessed using the Börstein gustometry method and taste sensation...

Sour taste has been considered the simplest of the basic tastes because it is elicited only by hydrogen ions. However, there is not a sufficiently clear understanding of that relationship to allow sour taste intensity to be predicted and rationally modified in foods. On the basis of analysis of sensory data from our laboratory and reanalysis of previously published data, we propose a new hypoth...

A longstanding question in taste research concerns taste coding and, in particular, how broadly are individual taste bud cells tuned to taste qualities (sweet, bitter, umami, salty, and sour). Taste bud cells express G-protein-coupled receptors for sweet, bitter, or umami tastes but not in combination. However, responses to multiple taste qualities have been recorded in individual taste cells. ...

Preferences in popular music among teen-age girls vary according to the neighborhood in which a girl lives and her relative popularity among her peers. Highly popular girls are shown to conform more closely than the less popular to the prevailing neighborhood norms in popular music. Musical tastes and preferences for particular songs and for particular disk jockeys are found to be anchored in r...

The perception of flavor arises from the combination of inputs from several sensory modalities, especially gustation (taste proper) and olfaction (the primary source of flavor qualities). Both the perception of intensity of suprathreshold flavorants and, notably, the detection of weak flavorants are consistent with a rule of additivity. Thus, the detectability, d', of mixtures of the gustatory ...

Taste receptor cells (TRCs) respond to acid stimulation, initiating perception of sour taste. Paradoxically, the pH of weak acidic stimuli correlates poorly with the perception of their sourness. A fundamental issue surrounding sour taste reception is the identity of the sour stimulus. We tested the hypothesis that acids induce sour taste perception by penetrating plasma membranes as H(+) ions ...