Interpreting the Process of the Gustatory System

We eat food everyday. We try different types of food that sometimes taste good to us or sometimes taste really awful. Our sense of taste is unique. People have different taste preferences. The sense of taste may seem so simple of a process but is actually a really complex chemical process. The gustatory system is responsible for allowing us to interpret chemical compounds as we digest food molecules. The tongue is the major sensory organ in the system being covered with taste buds that interprets our types of taste. The five main types are: salty, sweet, bitter, sour, and umami. The flavors we taste are either solely one of these types of taste or a combination of them. It is amazing to me how complex of a system we have when it comes to tasting food.

In their introductory article, Pavel Masek and Alex C. Keene explain their set-up in order to learn how the gustatory system identifies distinct tastes. They did this by understanding how fatty acids are detected in the diets of Drosophila , otherwise known as “fruit flies”. Masek and Keene did multiple experiments testing how self- sufficient the gustatory pathway is. Another interesting finding I thought from the experiment was the strong preference of fatty acids from the flies. In one trial, the flies preferred a specific fatty acid over sucrose showing a stronger importance of fatty acids. Later, body parts that dealt with the olfactory system were removed at one point and the same experiment was done. There was no change observed showing no direct correlation with the sense of smell. Overall, the experiment was able to show how the gustatory system works and how much of an independent system it is.

This study reminded me of an article I have read this week from DailyMail. The article talks about first time created images showing taste buds reacting to distinct flavors. The Harvard study showed a live imaging of the reaction of taste buds on a mouse as food is placed in its mouth. The scientist used infrared lasers to have certain areas of the tongue light up depending on the flavor of the food.  This article reminded me of the findings made by Masek and Keene on the complexity of the gustatory system. It is another examples of how many different cells are on the tongue and countless zones that detect tastes. This new imaging method opens up many opportunities to learn more about our perception of taste. Professor Seok-Hyun Yun talk about how relationship between the taste cells in taste buds and how perception of taste is still a mystery.

            I hope the discovery of this technique leads to more findings on how our gustatory system operates and maybe  leads to discoveries of new main taste buds. The research I read for class and the article I read show how there is still much to learn about taste and how we perceive it. And it makes me wonder, about our other senses and how complicated they must be.

Reference:

Masek, P., & Keene, A. C. (2013). Drosophila fatty acid taste signals through the PLC pathway in sugar-sensing neurons. PLoS genetics, 9(9), e1003710.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3057276/See-taste-LOOKS-like-Live-imaging-tongue-reveals-buds-reacting-flavours-time.html