Vanillin Activates Human Bitter Taste Receptors TAS2R14, TAS2R20, and TAS2R39

Gabriella Morini; Marcel Winnig; Timo Vennegeerts; Gigliola Borgonovo; Angela Bassoli

doi:10.3389/fnut.2021.683627

Vanillin Activates Human Bitter Taste Receptors TAS2R14, TAS2R20, and TAS2R39

Front Nutr. 2021 Jul 9:8:683627. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2021.683627. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Gabriella Morini¹, Marcel Winnig^{2

3}, Timo Vennegeerts^{2

3}, Gigliola Borgonovo⁴, Angela Bassoli⁴

Affiliations

¹ University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo, Italy.
² IMAX Discovery GmbH, Dortmund, Germany.
³ Axxam S.p.A. Bresso, Italy.
⁴ DeFENS - Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, University of Milan, Milan, Italy.

Abstract

Vanilla is widely used in food preparation worldwide for its sensory properties, mainly related to its fragrance, being vanillin the major compound present in the processed vanilla. Vanillin is also known to elicit bitterness as a secondary sensory sensation, but the molecular mechanism of its bitterness has never been reported. Assay buffers of vanillin were tested in vitro on all known 25 human bitter taste receptors TAS2Rs. Three receptors, TAS2R14, TAS2R20, and TAS2R39, were activated, showing that these receptors are mediating the bitterness of vanillin. The result could be useful to improve the overall sensory profile of this broadly used food ingredient, but even more could represent the starting point for further studies to investigate the potential of vanillin in sensory nutrition and other pharmaceutical applications.

Keywords: TAS2Rs taste receptors; biosensor; bitter taste; chemoreception; sensory nutrition; vanillin.