The past decade has witnessed a consolidation and refinement of the extraordinary
progress made in taste research. This Review describes recent advances in our …

The discovery of two families of mammalian taste receptors has provided important insights
into taste recognition and taste perception. Recent studies have examined the receptors and …

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 …

The variety of taste sensations, including sweet, umami, bitter, sour, and salty, arises from
diverse taste cells, each of which expresses specific taste sensor molecules and associated …

Recent studies on how peripheral taste organs function have revealed a number of
intriguing membrane mechanisms underlying taste transduction. The story is still evolving …

▪ Abstract Taste receptor cells respond to gustatory stimuli using a complex arrangement of
receptor molecules, signaling cascades, and ion channels. When stimulated, these cells …

Taste buds are aggregates of 50–100 polarized neuroepithelial cells that detect nutrients
and other compounds. Combined analyses of gene expression and cellular function reveal …

New technologies in neurophysiology and ultrastructural research are bringing about rapid
advances in our understanding of taste, particularly at the cellular level. The model of …

Taste buds are peripheral chemosensory organs situated in the oral cavity. Each taste bud
consists of a community of 50–100cells that interact synaptically during gustatory …

The sense of taste is activated when certain classes of chemicals contact specialized
epithelial taste receptor cells in the tongue, palate, throat and, in some species, near the …