Abstract: Taste is an important perceptual response, and the basic tastes include sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and umami. Taste receptors are proteins that perceive various tastes. In this paper, the topical keywords on taste receptors, the sources and types of taste receptors that have been researched, the methods used for taste receptor research, and the researchers engaged in the study of taste receptors are analyzed and summarized to provide a reference for taste receptor research. Through literature analysis, it is found that bitter taste, sweet taste, sour taste, umami taste, rat, human, mouse, cell, expression, protein, induction, gene, signal, neuron and molecule are the topical keywords on research of taste receptors. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal of Neuroscience, the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology and the Journal of Comparative Neurology are the key journals in the field of taste receptors. Murine taste receptors are the object of most research in this field, but there are still large differences between murine and human taste receptors. Therefore, further research is needed to accurately understand human taste receptors. At present, taste receptors have researched at the structural biological and neurobiological levels by means of computer simulation and molecular biology experiments. The structures of the medaka fish T1R2/T1R3 ligand recognition domain, zebrafish Otop1 and chicken Otop3 and the signaling pathways of each taste receptor have been elucidated. However, the accurate structures of most receptors have not been fully understood, and it is difficult to distinguish taste nerve stimuli with different characteristics. Currently, obtaining single crystals of G protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) by protein expression, protein structure elucidation and signal transduction, and elucidating the crystal structure and the interaction mechanism between various receptors are major research directions. The United States is a leader in the field of taste receptors, and its scientists such as Ryba N. J. P., Hoon M. A., and Chandrashekar J. have led the research direction in this field. This review clarifies the current status of the field of taste receptors and predicts future trends in this field, which will hopefully provide new directions and ideas for researchers.

Key words: taste receptors; source; receptor types; research methods; research institution; hotspot scientists