The sensation of taste originates when a substance chemically reacts with taste receptor cells (TRCs) located on taste buds within the oral cavity, primarily on the tongue. Taste is one of the five senses that belong to the sensory system. Taste perception is a key sensory input of all organisms. A taste receptor is a type of receptor that facilitates the sensation of taste. Taste receptors are located on taste receptor cell membranes. The mammalian gustatory system perceives five basic taste qualities such as bitter, sweet, salty, sour and umami, the taste of glutamate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on 'Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned'? Get an original essay In common parlance, the word “taste” is often used to describe sensations arising from the oral cavity. However, the biological definition of taste, or gustatory, is narrower and includes only sensations mediated by an anatomically specialized and physiologically defined chemosensory gustatory system. Along with taste sensations, food usually simultaneously evokes other sensations, for example, smell, touch, temperature and irritation. Although it is not always easy to perceptually separate all these sensations, the non-gustatory components are perceived by different systems, olfaction and somatosensation. Taste receptors provide animals with valuable sensory information for evaluating food. The sense of taste evokes responses ranging from innate behavioral actions such as aversion and attraction to food sources to enjoyment of food consumption. In particular, a single taste receptor cell expresses a large repertoire of taste receptor proteins. This suggests that each cell is capable of recognizing multiple flavors. Taste perception also plays an important role in interoceptive (hunger, safety, and specialized appetites) and exteroceptive (vision, smell, and somatosensation) signals and in generating behavioral responses to taste stimuli. Taste receptors evolved to protect the body from ingesting poisonous substances. food compounds. Furthermore, recent reports suggest that these proteins may have additional functions beyond taste sensing. Human taste receptors are also found in the smooth muscle tissue of the human airways, and the effect of taste substances on the function of the human bronchi is currently being studied. The gustatory system in mammals includes taste receptor cells organized into taste buds located within the taste buds. Most taste buds belong to three types: fungiform, foliate, and vallate, and are found on the tongue. There are also a considerable number of nonlingual taste buds in the palate, oropharynx, larynx, epiglottis, and upper esophagus. The apical ends of the TRCs are exposed to the oral cavity and interact with taste stimuli, usually water-soluble chemicals. This interaction generates signals that are transmitted to the brain through branches of three cranial nerves, VII (facial), IX (glossopharyngeal), and X (vagus). Tremendous progress has been made in recent years with the discovery and characterization of vertebrate taste receptors of the T1R and T2R families, which are involved in the recognition of bitter, sweet, and umami taste stimuli. Individual differences in taste, at least in some cases, can be attributed to allelic variants in the T1R and T2R genes. Nutrition and taste perception The survival of all animals depends on the consumption of nutrients. However, nutrient sources often also contain toxic substances. TheTaste helps animals decide whether food is beneficial to them and should be consumed or whether it is dangerous to them and should be rejected. Taste probably evolved to ensure that animals choose food appropriate for the body's needs. The current consensus is that human taste sensations can be divided into five qualities: bitter, sour, salty, sweet, and umami (savory; the prototypical stimulus is the amino acid glutamate). The aversive bitter taste often indicates the presence of toxins in foods. Bitter and acidic flavors can also signal spoiled food. The main salty taste stimuli are sodium salts, but some nonsodium salts also have a salty taste component. This suggests that the salty taste signals the presence of sodium or minerals in general. The most common natural sweet taste stimuli are sugars, which indicate the presence of carbohydrates in foods. The most common umami taste stimulus is L-glutamate, which can indicate the presence of protein. Other important nutrients include lipids, calcium and water, but the existence of taste qualities corresponding to them is questionable. The existence of different gustatory qualities implies that each gustatory quality has a specific coding mechanism mediated by specialized gustatory receptors. Current data support this hypothesis. Receiving the taste qualities that humans describe as sweet, umami, and bitter involves proteins from the T1R and T2R families. Candidate receptors for salty and sour taste have been proposed. Practical Applications of Taste Receptors There is considerable interest in developing new taste stimuli and taste modifiers for humans and other animals. For humans, areas of focus include making foods and drinks healthier without sacrificing palatability and making oral medications more acceptable to patients. There is substantial demand for artificial sweet and umami compounds, salty, sweet and umami taste enhancers, bitter taste blockers, and pharmaceutical compounds with enhanced sensory properties. There is also a demand for improving the taste quality of food for companion and farm animals and for the development of non-lethal repellents for wild animals, for example non-toxic chemicals with an unpleasant taste. The development of such products has been hampered by a lack of knowledge of the molecular identity of taste receptors. The discovery of taste receptors, the characterization of their active sites involved in interactions with agonists and antagonists, and the development of high-throughput techniques for in vitro screening of taste stimuli will facilitate the design of new taste-active compounds. Allelic variation in human taste receptors can influence food perception, choice, and consumption. As a result, it can affect nutrition and potentially predispose individuals to certain diseases. Therefore, some taste receptor alleles may be risk factors for disease. The genotypes of these receptors may be useful as biological markers to identify predispositions to certain diseases and suggest interventions for disease prevention. Available data provide some examples of the role of taste receptor variation in human nutrition and health. Sensitive alleles of the human TAS2R38 receptor respond to PTC, PROP, and related compounds that contain a thiourea moiety (N - C = S). Some plants consumed by humans contain glucosinolates, compounds that also contain the thiourea moiety. A recent study demonstrated that the TAS2R38 genotype influences the perception of bitterness in glucosinolate-containing plants, such as broccoli, turnip, and horseradish. Allelic variation in TAS2R38 may have even more widespread effects on choice.