ANATOMY

Detailed explanation-1: -The chemical stimuli of special significance to taste are sugars (sweet), amino acids (umami), sodium chloride and other salts (salty), alkaloids (bitter) and acids (sour). Sugars and amino acids tend to be preferred, while alkaloids and acids tend to be avoided.

Detailed explanation-2: -The sense of taste has classically been limited to the 5 basic taste qualities: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami or savory. Advances from the Human Genome Project and others have allowed the identification and determination of many of the genes and molecular mechanisms involved in taste biology.

Detailed explanation-3: -Different receptors are triggered by different chemical compounds (or molecules) present in the food. The sour taste receptors are triggered by acids, or more specifically hydrogen ions (H+), and therefore are the tongue’s acid detectors.

Detailed explanation-4: -The receptors for sweet, bitter, sour and umami tastes are proteins (produced and coded for by particular genes in our DNA) found on the surface of the cells. They react in the presence of certain chemicals, triggering a sequence of events resulting in the chemical message described above.