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Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Taste and Smell: From Physiology to Pathology

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Biology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 2043

Editor

Dr. Mariano Mastinu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Cagliari, 09042 Monserrato, Italy
2. Smell and Taste Clinic, Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Technical University of Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Interests: taste; TAS2R38; olfaction; smell; gustation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The senses of taste and smell are crucial for human nutrition, flavor perception, and overall quality of life. They work together to regulate behaviors crucial for survival, including environmental interactions, recognition of nutrient-rich foods, and avoidance of toxic compounds. Recent developments in molecular and cellular biology have significantly enhanced our comprehension of the mechanisms that govern chemosensory function, from the physiology of receptor signaling and neural processing to the pathological alterations. Dysfunctions in taste and smell are increasingly recognized as early markers or comorbidities in a wide range of conditions, such as neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders, cancer, and treatment-related side effects, with significant impact on health and well-being. A comprehensive understanding of physiological function alongside pathological alterations is key to clarifying how taste and smell impact everyday life.

This Special Issue, ‘Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Taste and Smell: From Physiology to Pathology’, aims to bring together original research and reviews that explore the molecular and cellular basis of taste and smell in both health and disease. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, the molecular basis of taste and olfactory perception and the role of pathological conditions, aging, the microenvironment surrounding sensory receptor cells, and genetic variability in shaping chemosensory perception.

Dr. Mariano Mastinu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • taste
  • olfaction
  • taste/smell processing
  • chemosensory dysfunction
  • genetic variations
  • neurodegeneration
  • perireceptor space
  • sensory nutrition
  • hypogeusia and hyposmia

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

17 pages, 2245 KB  
Article
Sex-Specific Patterns of Taste Dysfunction, Their Relationships with α-Synuclein Profiling, and Supervised Learning-Based Diagnosis in Parkinson’s Disease (PD)
by Melania Melis, Fabrizio Angius, Lala Chaimae Naciri, Giorgia Sollai, Silvia Deligia, Giuseppe Fenu, Paolo Mellino, Beatrice Pinna, Roberto Crnjar, Anna R. Carta, Giovanni Cossu and Iole Tomassini Barbarossa
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(9), 4048; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27094048 - 30 Apr 2026
Viewed by 820
Abstract
Taste impairment is a little-known non-motor Parkinson’s disease (PD) feature with potential diagnostic value. However, its biological basis and sex-specific patterns remain unclear. We combined psychophysical taste testing, salivary α synuclein (αsyn) profiling, genotyping of four SNCA polymorphisms, and Supervised Learning (SL) within [...] Read more.
Taste impairment is a little-known non-motor Parkinson’s disease (PD) feature with potential diagnostic value. However, its biological basis and sex-specific patterns remain unclear. We combined psychophysical taste testing, salivary α synuclein (αsyn) profiling, genotyping of four SNCA polymorphisms, and Supervised Learning (SL) within a unified, sex-aware analytical framework to analyze sensory, molecular, and genetic correlates of gustatory dysfunction in 99 PD patients and 60 healthy controls. Overall taste identification was markedly reduced in PD, independently of sex. However, males and females showed distinct taste quality alterations: females preserved sour recognition, while males showed marked citric acid misidentification. SL modeling achieved high accuracy, revealing that the inability to perceive saltiness was most informative overall, astringency misidentification strongly predicted female PD, and sour misidentification characterized male PD. Salivary oligomeric αsyn showed a significant sex × diagnosis interaction, being elevated only in PD females, specifically those failing to identify astringency. Genotype–phenotype analyses revealed sex-dependent associations between SNCA variants (rs356219, rs181489, and rs2583988) and astringency recognition. These findings demonstrated that sex critically shapes the interplay between taste dysfunction, peripheral αsyn biology, and SNCA genetics in PD, supporting sex-aware chemosensory phenotyping and the development of precision taste-based biomarkers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Taste and Smell: From Physiology to Pathology)
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24 pages, 4563 KB  
Article
Cranberry Polyphenol Extract (CPE) Oral Rinse Improves Salivary Microbiome in 6-n-Propylthiouracil (PROP) Non-Tasters and Palatability of Aronia Juice
by Katrina Nguyen-DeMary, Sarah Vascellari, Mariano Mastinu, Melania Melis, Thomaz F. S. Bastiaanssen, Iole Tomassini Barbarossa and Beverly J. Tepper
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(9), 3935; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27093935 - 28 Apr 2026
Viewed by 677
Abstract
Sensitivity to the bitterness of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is controlled by variations in the TAS2R38 gene. This phenotype is often used as a marker for individual differences in taste perception. Previous findings show that PROP taster status is associated with differences in the salivary [...] Read more.
Sensitivity to the bitterness of 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) is controlled by variations in the TAS2R38 gene. This phenotype is often used as a marker for individual differences in taste perception. Previous findings show that PROP taster status is associated with differences in the salivary microbiome. It is well known that diet and environmental factors influence the risk of oral disease, but there is far less evidence showing how genetic differences play a role. Forty-seven young, healthy, PROP taster-classified adults rinsed with a cranberry polyphenol extract (CPE) oral rinse (0.75 g/L CPE powder in spring water) twice daily for 11 days. Saliva was collected pre- and post-intervention for microbiome analysis using shotgun metagenomic sequencing. At the same time points, participants evaluated two astringent juices (cranberry and aronia berry) for key attributes. At baseline, PROP taster groups differed in their salivary microbiome compositions, but post-intervention, the groups had more similar bacterial compositions. Post-intervention, non-tasters showed decreases in the relative abundance of 15 bacterial species, including a significant reduction (p = 0.037) in Eikenella corrodens, which is one bacterium, among several others, involved in oral biofilm formation. Additionally, after the intervention, sourness was reduced, and overall liking increased significantly for aronia juice. Oral dysbiosis, a risk factor for oral disease, may be controlled by bactericidal mouthwashes. Our results suggest that CPE, a natural alternative to traditional bactericidal rinses, may selectively target pathobionts while preserving salivary microbiota diversity. CPE might also provide greater benefits to non-tasters, who are at greater risk for oral disease. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Taste and Smell: From Physiology to Pathology)
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