Department of Crop and Soil Sciences North Carolina State University, Raleigh, USA.
Department of Anthropology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Proc Biol Sci. 2022 Feb 9;289(1968):20211918. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1918.
The evolutionary history of sour taste has been little studied. Through a combination of literature review and trait mapping on the vertebrate phylogenetic tree, we consider the origin of sour taste, potential cases of the loss of sour taste, and those factors that might have favoured changes in the valence of sour taste-from aversive to appealing. We reconstruct sour taste as having evolved in ancient fish. By contrast to other tastes, sour taste does not appear to have been lost in any major vertebrate taxa. For most species, sour taste is aversive. Animals, including humans, that enjoy the sour taste triggered by acidic foods are exceptional. We conclude by considering why sour taste evolved, why it might have persisted as vertebrates made the transition to land and what factors might have favoured the preference for sour-tasting, acidic foods, particularly in hominins, such as humans.
酸味的进化历史研究甚少。通过文献回顾和脊椎动物系统发育树上的特征映射相结合，我们考虑了酸味的起源、酸味丧失的潜在案例，以及可能促使酸味从厌恶到吸引人的味觉变化的因素。我们将酸味重建为在古代鱼类中进化而来。与其他味道不同，酸味似乎没有在任何主要的脊椎动物分类群中丢失。对于大多数物种来说，酸味是令人厌恶的。包括人类在内的喜欢酸性食物引发的酸味的动物是例外。最后，我们考虑了酸味是如何进化的，为什么当脊椎动物向陆地过渡时它可能仍然存在，以及是什么因素促使人们喜欢酸味、酸性食物，特别是在人类等原始人中。
