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Updated: Jul 15, 2026

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test
Published on: August 17, 2018
Taste receptor genes
Alexander A Bachmanov1, Gary K Beauchamp
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. bachmanov@monell.org
Abstract:
In the past several years, tremendous progress has been achieved with the discovery and characterization of vertebrate taste receptors from the T1R and T2R families, which are involved in 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. Progress with understanding how T1R and T2R receptors interact with taste stimuli and with identifying their patterns of expression in taste cells sheds light on coding of taste information by the nervous system. Candidate mechanisms for detection of salts, acids, fat, complex carbohydrates, and water have also been proposed, but further studies are needed to prove their identity.
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