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Molecular biology

A taste of umami

Nature volume 457, page 160 (2009)Cite this article

Of the five basic tastes — bitter, sweet, umami, sour and salty — umami is the least well known and certainly the least romantic. Yet most of us have experienced this savoury flavour, and commonly associate it with oriental cuisine. Xiaodong Li and colleagues now reveal the molecular mechanism behind perception of the umami taste (F. Zhang et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA doi:10.1073/pnas.0810174106; 2008).

The umami taste comes from the amino acid glutamate, although ribonucleotides such as IMP and GMP greatly enhance its intensity. Like the sweet taste, perception of this taste depends on G-protein-coupled receptors of class C (C-GPCRs), which are found in cell membranes and also include many receptors of physiological importance. In C-GPCRs, a 'Venus flytrap' (VFT) domain, which binds to ligands on the cell surface, is connected to a transmembrane domain.

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  1. Sadaf Shadan
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Shadan, S. A taste of umami. Nature 457, 160 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/457160a

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