The taste sensation occurs when a substance reacts chemically with taste receptor cells (TRCs) located on taste buds in the oral cavity, primarily on the tongue. Taste is one of the five senses belonging 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 taste system detects five basic taste qualities: bitter, sweet, salty, sour, and umami, the taste of glutamate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get an original essayIn common parlance, the word “taste” is often used to describe sensations coming from the oral cavity. However, the biological definition of taste, or gustation, is narrower and includes only sensations mediated by a specialized anatomically and physiologically defined chemosensory taste system. In addition to 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 of these sensations, the non-taste components are detected by different systems, olfaction and somatosensation. Taste receptors provide animals with valuable sensory information for food evaluation. The sense of taste evokes responses that range from innate behavioral actions such as aversion and attraction to food sources to the pleasure of consuming food. Notably, a single taste receptor cell expresses a broad repertoire of taste receptor proteins, suggesting that each cell is capable of recognizing multiple flavors. Taste perception also plays a major role in interoceptive (hunger, safety, and specialized appetites) and exteroceptive (vision, olfaction, and somatosensation) signals and in the generation of behavioral responses to taste stimuli. Taste receptors have evolved to protect this organism against the ingestion of toxic substances. food compounds. Furthermore, recent reports suggest that these proteins may have additional functions beyond taste detection. Human taste receptors are also found in the smooth muscle tissues of the human airways and the effect of taste agents on human bronchial function is currently being studied. The mammalian taste system consists of taste receptor cells organized into taste buds located in the taste buds. Most taste buds belong to three types: fungiform, foliate and vallate and are located in the tongue. There are also a significant number of nonlingual taste buds in the palate, oropharynx, larynx, epiglottis, and upper esophagus. The apical ends of CRTs 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 via the branches of three cranial nerves, VII (facial), IX (glossopharyngeal), and X (vagus). In recent years, enormous progress has been made 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 of the T1R and T2R genes. Nutrition andperception of taste The survival of all animals depends on the consumption of nutrients. However, nutrient sources often also contain toxic substances. Taste helps animals decide whether food is beneficial for them and should be eaten or if it is dangerous for them and should be rejected. Taste likely evolved to ensure that animals chose foods suited to their 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 being the amino acid glutamate). An aversive bitter taste often indicates the presence of toxins in food. Bitter and sour tastes 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 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 fat, calcium, and water, but whether there are taste qualities corresponding to them is questionable. The existence of several different taste qualities implies that each taste quality has a specific coding mechanism mediated by specialized taste 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 have been proposed for salty and sour tastes. Practical Applications of Taste Receptors There is substantial interest in the development of novel 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 to improve the taste quality of food for pets and farm animals and to develop non-lethal repellents against wild animals, for example non-toxic chemicals with an aversive taste. The development of such products has been hampered by the lack of knowledge about 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 novel taste-active compounds. Allelic variation in human taste receptors can affect food perception, choice, and consumption. As a result, this can influence nutrition and potentially predispose individuals to certain diseases. Thus, certain 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 disease prevention interventions. The 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.