Sentences with phrase «bitter taste evolved»

Similarly, scientists have long assumed that bitter taste evolved as a defense mechanism to detect potentially harmful toxins commonly found in plants.

Not exact matches

In most animals, taste has evolved to avoid all things bitter — a key to survival — to avoid eating something that could be poisonous via taste receptors, known as Tas2r, that quickly spring into action and elicit the bitter sensation.

al., tested the hypothesis that herbivores — and their plant diets — have evolved to have greater number of Tas2r bitter taste receptor genes in their genomes than omnivores or carnivores.

«Plants have evolved defense mechanisms to protect themselves, such as thorns, bitter - tasting berries, and in the case of certain types of grass, by harbouring toxic fungus deep within them that can be dangerous or even fatal for grazing animals,» says York U Biology Professor Dawn Bazely, who worked with University of Cambridge researcher Andrew Tanentzap and York U researcher Mark Vicari on the project.

If this taste evolved to be a carbohydrate sensor, it should have made us aversive to the carbohydrates it detects, as the bitter taste makes us avoid toxins.