Biology of taste

5 important questions on Biology of taste

What are the 5 taste qualities? + give an example!

  • Sweet -- sucrose
  • Salty -- NaCl
  • Bitter -- quinine
  • Sour -- citric acid
  • Umami -- MSG


other??
  • Fat? Calcium? Starch? Metallic? Water?

Taste is a gatekeeper of the internal system. Each taste is associated with a physiological function.
What is the physiological function of Sweet, Umami, Bitter, Salty and Sour?

Sweet
  • Detecting energy content
Umami
  • Motivating protein intake
Bitter
  • Avoiding toxins
Salty
  • Maintaining electrolyte balance
Sour
  • Guarding pH level

There are 4 types of papillae. Which are they and where can you find them on the tongue?

  • Circumvallate
    • back of the tongue
    • thousand of taste buds
  • Foliate
    • sides of the tongue
    • 100-1000 taste buds
  • Fungiform
    • front of the tongue
    • 1 or a few taste buds

The 4e is Filiform papillae, but this one does not have any taste buds so is unnecessary.
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If we look in more detail into these taste receptor cells to how taste quality is coded there are two main theories at this moment. What are these two theories?

The labelled line theory
and
The across fibre pattern theory

Which compounds are not detectible when you are taste blindness? And which gene is responsible for this?

you have insensitivity to PTC or PROP which are bitter compounds.


The gene responsible for this taste insensitivity is TAS2R38.
  • people who have this gene will perceive the compounds as very bitter which is about 70% of the population.
  • it is tasteless for the others (30%)

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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