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Post details: "Elegant simplicity" revealed in the science of taste
11/22/06
"Elegant simplicity" revealed in the science of taste
Research into taste has not been as extensive as that for sight and hearing. This ‘state of the art’ paper provides a fascinating read, and the “emerging picture of taste coding at the periphery is one of elegant simplicity”. There are unique receptors tuned to detect each of the five basic tastes. These are linked in with other inputs to taste and fed to the brain for neural activity to provide the final orchestration of “positive hedonic value and behavioural acceptance”. All this, according to the authors, is an accommodation to an “evolutionary need.” The paper gives no evidence that this is actually the case. Unspecified hypothetial evolutionary needs are invoked as ‘context’ for the research, but ‘design’ can also provide ‘context’. What is lacking in this paper is a discussion as to why “evolutionary need” should be preferred over “design”.
The receptors and cells for mammalian taste
Jayaram Chandrashekar, Mark A. Hoon, Nicholas J. P. Ryba and Charles S. Zuker
Nature 444, 288-294 (16 November 2006) | doi:10.1038/nature05401
Abstract: The emerging picture of taste coding at the periphery is one of elegant simplicity. Contrary to what was generally believed, it is now clear that distinct cell types expressing unique receptors are tuned to detect each of the five basic tastes: sweet, sour, bitter, salty and umami. Importantly, receptor cells for each taste quality function as dedicated sensors wired to elicit stereotypic responses.
For further reading: Bradbury J (2004) Taste Perception: Cracking the Code. PLoS Biol 2(3): e64
http://biology.plosjournals.org/perlserv/?request=get-document&doi=10.1371/journal.pbio.0020064
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