Taste perception: cracking the code

Jane Bradbury, Jane Bradbury

Abstract

Our sense of taste begins with taste buds and ends in the brain. Researchers are beginning to unravel the mechanisms and connections that lie in between

Figures

Figure 1. A Taste Bud in a…
Figure 1. A Taste Bud in a Mouse
This taste bud was taken from a transgenic mouse in which the marker green fluorescent protein is being driven by the T1R3 promoter; 20%–30% of the cells in the taste bud are expressing T1R3. (Photograph courtesy of Sami Damak, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, New York, United States.)
Figure 2. Non-Taster or Supertaster?
Figure 2. Non-Taster or Supertaster?
(A) Top surface of the tongue of a non-taster. (B) Tongue of a supertaster. The small circles are fungiform papillae, each of which contains about six taste buds.

References

    1. Damak S, Rong M, Yasumatsu K, Kokrashvili Z, Varadarajan V. Detection of sweet and umami taste in the absence of taste receptor T1r3. Science. 2003;301:850–853.
    1. Zhang Y, Hoon MA, Chandrashekar J, Mueller KL, Cook B. Coding of sweet, bitter, and umami tastes: Different receptor cells sharing similar signaling pathways. Cell. 2003;112:293–301.
    1. Zhao GQ, Zhang Y, Hoon MA, Chandrashekar J, Erlenbach I. The receptors for mammalian sweet and umami taste. Cell. 2003;115:255–266.

Source: PubMed

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