Title:Taste Transductions in Taste Receptor Cells: Basic Tastes and Moreover
VOLUME: 20 ISSUE: 16
Author(s):Shusuke Iwata, Ryusuke Yoshida and Yuzo Ninomiya
Affiliation:Section of Oral Neuroscience, Graduate School of Dental Sciences, Kyushu University, 3-1-1 Maidashi, Higashi-ku, Fukuoka 812-8582, Japan.
Keywords:Taste receptor, transduction, cell type, taste quality, fat taste and calcium taste.
Abstract:In the oral cavity, taste receptor cells dedicate to detecting chemical compounds in foodstuffs and transmitting their signals to
gustatory nerve fibers. Heretofore, five taste qualities (sweet, umami, bitter, salty and sour) are generally accepted as basic tastes. Each of
these may have a specific role in the detection of nutritious and poisonous substances; sweet for carbohydrate sources of calories, umami
for protein and amino acid contents, bitter for harmful compounds, salty for minerals and sour for ripeness of fruits and spoiled foods.
Recent studies have revealed molecular mechanisms for reception and transduction of these five basic tastes. Sweet, umami and bitter
tastes are mediated by G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and second-messenger signaling cascades. Salty and sour tastes are mediated
by channel-type receptors. In addition to five basic tastes, taste receptor cells may have the ability to detect fat taste, which is elicited
by fatty acids, and calcium taste, which is elicited by calcium. Taste compounds eliciting either fat taste or calcium taste may be detected
by specific GPCRs expressed in taste receptor cells. This review will focus on transduction mechanisms and cellular characteristics responsible
for each of basic tastes, fat taste and calcium taste.
