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Updated: Oct 14, 2025

Taste Exam: A Brief and Validated Test
Published on: August 17, 2018
The Cellular and Molecular Basis of Sour Taste
Heather N Turner1, Emily R Liman1
1Department of Biological Sciences, Section of Neurobiology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA; email: Turnerh@usc.edu, Liman@usc.edu.
Abstract:
Sour taste, the taste of acids, is one of the most enigmatic of the five basic taste qualities; its function is unclear and its receptor was until recently unknown. Sour tastes are transduced in taste buds on the tongue and palate epithelium by a subset of taste receptor cells, known as type III cells. Type III cells express a number of unique markers, which allow for their identification and manipulation. These cells respond to acid stimuli with action potentials and release neurotransmitters onto afferent nerve fibers, with cell bodies in geniculate and petrosal ganglia. Here, we review classical studies of sour taste leading up to the identification of the sour receptor as the proton channel OTOP1.
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