Umami: What goes into the savory flavor?

We all know our basic taste qualities: sweet, salty, sour, and bitter. Taste receptors cover the surface of each taste bud interact with specific molecules; the corresponding flavor sensation then gets sent to your brain. However, not many people remember the last flavor, umami. Have you ever had a taste of mushrooms or steak? This flavor is neither sweet or salty, which creates the specific taste on your tongue.  

There is a specific molecule called glutamate, which either is naturally in the food or from added MSG, that interacts with an umami receptor. This causes the taste of the delicious savory flavor in our mouths. Nucleotides such as guanosine-5’-monophosphate (GMP) can enhance the umami flavor produced by the glutamate, but can not not activate the taste receptor on its own. GMP needs the help of glutamate to create the umami taste in our mouths.  

Only T1R1/T1R3, which is one of the three known umami taste receptors, can interact with both GMP and glutamate. The T1R1/T1R3” receptor has two states: an “off” state with no glutamate and an “on” state when glutamate is attached to the receptor. Glutamate caused the receptor to exist in the “on” state more than the “off” state. When GMP was added to the simulation, both GMP and glutamate interacted with the receptor to further stabilize the “on” state. 

Now that you know a know about the this new flavor, you should try an Unami food again such as mushrooms. After you eat it, comment down below how your prospective changed once you know the science behind it.  

cite: https://febs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1742-4658.2012.08690.x 

Jessica Burke Otium