Taste and smell in aquatic and terrestrial environments

Abstract

The review summarizes results up to 2017 on chemosensory cues occurring in both aquatic and terrestrial environments. The chemicals are grouped by their physicochemical properties to compare their potential mobility in the different media. In contrast to what is widely asserted in the literature, the report emphasizes that living organisms encounter and sense molecules of various degrees of solubility and volatility both on land and in aquatic environments. The picture that emerges from the review suggests a substantial revision of the traditional definitions of the chemical senses based on their spatial range, which is currently orienting the literature on chemosensory signaling, in favor of a new vision based on the natural products that are the actual mediators of the chemosensory perceptions. According to this perspective, natural product chemistry is a powerful tool with which to explore the evolutionary history of the chemical senses.