Convergence of sweet and umami in the mammalian taste bud
Abstract
The sense of taste enables animals to identify nutrients and avoid harmful substances. Although the five basic taste qualities—sweet, umami, bitter, sour, and salty—are mediated by distinct molecular receptors, the extent and functional significance of receptor co-expression remain intensely debated. Here, we use in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in mouse taste buds to directly visualize how taste qualities are encoded by taste receptor cells (TRCs) and by innervating gustatory fiber terminals. We find that most TRCs are selectively activated by a single taste quality. However, a significant population of TRCs responds to both sweet and umami stimuli, consistent with extensive sweet-umami double tuning among gustatory ganglion neurons. Moreover, in situ hybridization reveals co-expression of sweet and umami receptors in TRCs from both mouse tongue and human tongue biopsies. Finally, experiments with conditioned taste aversion, a basic form of learned food avoidance, show that sweet and umami taste cross-generalize behaviorally. Together, our findings reveal significant convergence between sweet and umami taste coding both in the tongue and in the peripheral gustatory neurons.
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BibTeX
@article{uddin2026convergence,
title = {{Convergence of sweet and umami in the mammalian taste bud}},
author = {Syed Adnan Uddin and Thirada Boonrawd and Yejin Kim and Hanna R. Rodriguez and Yue Yu and Pouya Jamshidi and Hojoon Lee},
journal = {iScience},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.isci.2026.118025},
url = {https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03408-5},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Convergence of sweet and umami in the mammalian taste bud
AU - Syed Adnan Uddin
AU - Thirada Boonrawd
AU - Yejin Kim
AU - Hanna R. Rodriguez
AU - Yue Yu
AU - Pouya Jamshidi
AU - Hojoon Lee
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/28
JO - iScience
DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2026.118025
UR - https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)03408-5
AB - The sense of taste enables animals to identify nutrients and avoid harmful substances. Although the five basic taste qualities—sweet, umami, bitter, sour, and salty—are mediated by distinct molecular receptors, the extent and functional significance of receptor co-expression remain intensely debated. Here, we use in vivo two-photon calcium imaging in mouse taste buds to directly visualize how taste qualities are encoded by taste receptor cells (TRCs) and by innervating gustatory fiber terminals. We find that most TRCs are selectively activated by a single taste quality. However, a significant population of TRCs responds to both sweet and umami stimuli, consistent with extensive sweet-umami double tuning among gustatory ganglion neurons. Moreover, in situ hybridization reveals co-expression of sweet and umami receptors in TRCs from both mouse tongue and human tongue biopsies. Finally, experiments with conditioned taste aversion, a basic form of learned food avoidance, show that sweet and umami taste cross-generalize behaviorally. Together, our findings reveal significant convergence between sweet and umami taste coding both in the tongue and in the peripheral gustatory neurons.
SN - 2589-0042
ER -