Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain
the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in
Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles
and JavaScript.
Taste receptors are receptor proteins that recognise ligands belonging to one of the five taste modalities: salty, sweet, bitter, sour and umami. In mammals, taste receptors are found in taste receptor cells on the tongue and in the upper digestive system. Bitter, sweet and umami receptors are G-protein-coupled receptors.
Genetic comparison of rainforest foraging and neighboring agricultural communities in Uganda and the Philippines shows no distinction in the size of olfactory receptor gene repertoires, but there is evidence for subsistence-related local adaptation.
Using a combined experimental-computational approach, the activation profiles of human and mouse bitter taste receptors, TAS2Rs and Tas2rs, by bile acids is described, suggesting a physiological role of bile acids for taste receptors in non-gustatory tissues.
The authors identify a high-pH-activated chloride channel as a taste receptor responsible for the avoidance of alkaline foods in fruit flies, laying the groundwork for future research on alkaline taste sensation in other animals.
Neuropod cells in the gut epithelium of mice are sensory transducers for sweet stimuli and mediate the preference for sugar over artificial sweeteners.
The majority of neurons in the geniculate ganglion — which receives inputs from taste receptor cells on the tongue — are singly tuned to a particular taste quality.
