A Taste receptor is a type of receptor

Receptor (biochemistry)

In biochemistry, a receptor is a molecule found on the surface of a cell, which receives specific chemical signals from neighbouring cells or the wider environment within an organism...

 which facilitates the sensation of taste

Taste

Taste is one of the traditional five senses. It refers to the ability to detect the flavor of substances such as food, certain minerals, and poisons, etc....

.

Examples include TAS2R16

TAS2R16

TAS2R16 is a human gene that encodes for a receptor that may play a role in the perception of bitterness...

 and TAS2R38

TAS2R38

TAS2R38 is a bitter taste receptor which facilitates the tasting of phenylthiocarbamide and propylthiouracil , although it does not explain supertasting.. Carriers of the PAV allele experience more bitterness from vegetables and consume vegetables less frequently and in lower amounts ....

.

They are divided into two families:

• Type 1, sweet
  Sweetness
  Sweetness is one of the five basic tastes and is almost universally regarded as a pleasurable experience. Foods rich in simple carbohydrates such as sugar are those most commonly associated with sweetness, although there are other natural and artificial compounds that are sweet at much lower...
  
  , first characterized in 2001: –
• Type 2, bitter, first characterized in 2000: – , and

Human bitter taste receptor genes are named TAS2R1 to TAS2R64, with many gaps due to non-existent genes, pseudogenes or proposed genes that have not been annotated to the most recent human genome assembly. Many bitter taste receptor genes also have confusing synonym names with several different gene names referring to the same gene. See table below for full list of human bitter taste receptor genes:

Class	Gene	Synonyms	Aliases	Locus	Description
type 1 (sweet)	TAS1R1 TAS1R1 Taste receptor type 1 member 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R1 gene.-Further reading:...		GPR70	1p36.23
	TAS1R2 TAS1R2 Taste receptor type 1 member 2 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R2 gene.A mutation in this gene gives cats the inability to taste sugar.-Further reading:...		GPR71	1p36.23
	TAS1R3 TAS1R3 Taste receptor type 1 member 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS1R3 gene.-Further reading:...			1p36
type 2 (bitter)	TAS2R1 TAS2R1 Taste receptor type 2 member 1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R1 gene.-Further reading:...			5p15
	TAS2R2			7p21.3	pseudogene
	TAS2R3 TAS2R3 Taste receptor type 2 member 3 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R3 gene.-Further reading:...			7q31.3-q32
	TAS2R4 TAS2R4 Taste receptor type 2 member 4 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R4 gene.-Further reading:...			7q31.3-q32
	TAS2R5 TAS2R5 Taste receptor type 2 member 5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R5 gene.-Further reading:...			7q31.3-q32
	TAS2R6			7	not annotated in human genome assembly
	TAS2R7 TAS2R7 Taste receptor type 2 member 7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R7 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13
	TAS2R8 TAS2R8 Taste receptor type 2 member 8 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R8 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13
	TAS2R9 TAS2R9 Taste receptor type 2 member 9 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R9 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13
	TAS2R10 TAS2R10 Taste receptor type 2 member 10 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R10 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13
	TAS2R11				absent in humans
	TAS2R12			12p13.2	pseudogene
	TAS2R13 TAS2R13 Taste receptor type 2 member 13 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R13 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13
	TAS2R14 TAS2R14 Taste receptor type 2 member 14 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R14 gene.- Function :This gene product belongs to the family of candidate taste receptors that are members of the G-protein-coupled receptor superfamily. These proteins are specifically expressed in the taste receptor...			12p13
	TAS2R15			12p13.2	pseudogene
	TAS2R16 TAS2R16 TAS2R16 is a human gene that encodes for a receptor that may play a role in the perception of bitterness...			7q31.1-q31.3
	TAS2R17				absent in humans
	TAS2R18			12p13.2	pseudogene
	TAS2R19	TAS2R23, TAS2R48		12p13.2
	TAS2R20	TAS2R49		12p13.2
	TAS2R21				absent in humans
	TAS2R22			12	not annotated in human genome assembly
	TAS2R24				absent in humans
	TAS2R25				absent in humans
	TAS2R26				pseudogene
	TAS2R27				absent in humans
	TAS2R28				absent in humans
	TAS2R29				absent in humans
	TAS2R30	TAS2R47		12p13.2
	TAS2R31	TAS2R44		12p13.2
	TAS2R32				absent in humans
	TAS2R33			12	not annotated in human genome assembly
	TAS2R34				absent in humans
	TAS2R35				absent in humans
	TAS2R36			12	not annotated in human genome assembly
	TAS2R37			12	not annotated in human genome assembly
	TAS2R38 TAS2R38 TAS2R38 is a bitter taste receptor which facilitates the tasting of phenylthiocarbamide and propylthiouracil , although it does not explain supertasting.. Carriers of the PAV allele experience more bitterness from vegetables and consume vegetables less frequently and in lower amounts ....			7q34
	TAS2R39 TAS2R39 Taste receptor type 2 member 39 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R39 gene.-Further reading:...			7q34
	TAS2R40 TAS2R40 Taste receptor type 2 member 40 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R40 gene.-Further reading:...		GPR60	7q34
	TAS2R41 TAS2R41 Taste receptor type 2 member 41 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R41 gene.-Further reading:...			7q34
	TAS2R42 TAS2R42 Taste receptor, type 2, member 42 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R42 gene....			12p13
	TAS2R43 TAS2R43 Taste receptor type 2 member 43 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R43 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13.2
	TAS2R45 TAS2R45 Taste receptor type 2 member 45 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R45 gene.-Further reading:...		GPR59	12
	TAS2R46 TAS2R46 Taste receptor type 2 member 46 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R46 gene.-Further reading:...			12p13.2
	TAS2R50 TAS2R50 Taste receptor type 2 member 50 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R50 gene.-Further reading:...	TAS2R51		12p13.2
	TAS2R50				absent in humans
	TAS2R51				absent in humans
	TAS2R52				absent in humans
	TAS2R53				absent in humans
	TAS2R54				absent in humans
	TAS2R55				absent in humans
	TAS2R56				absent in humans
	TAS2R57				absent in humans
	TAS2R58				absent in humans
	TAS2R59				absent in humans
	TAS2R60 TAS2R60 Taste receptor type 2 member 60 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the TAS2R60 gene.-Further reading:...			7
	TAS2R62P			7q34	pseudogene
	TAS2R63P			12p13.2	pseudogene
	TAS2R64P			12p13.2	pseudogene