Intake of salt is a biological imperative, inextricably woven into physiological systems,
human societies and global culture. However, excessive salt intake is associated with high …

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

Salinity is detrimental to plant growth, crop production and food security worldwide. Excess
salt triggers increases in cytosolic Ca2+ concentration, which activate Ca2+-binding proteins …

Taste sensing is a sophisticated chemosensory process, and bitter taste perception is
mediated by type 2 taste receptors (TAS2Rs), or class TG protein–coupled receptors …

Animals are biological transformers of dietary matter and energy to produce high-quality
foods and wools for human consumption and use. Mammals, birds, fish, and shrimp require …

The sense of taste allows animals to sample chemicals in the environment prior to ingestion.
Of the five basic tastes, sour, the taste of acids, had remained among the most mysterious …

The ability to sense sour provides an important sensory signal to prevent the ingestion of
unripe, spoiled, or fermented foods. Taste and somatosensory receptors in the oral cavity …

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 …

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 …

Five canonical tastes, bitter, sweet, umami (amino acid), salty, and sour (acid), are detected
by animals as diverse as fruit flies and humans, consistent with a near-universal drive to …