Calcium Taste Avoidance in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Many animals, ranging from vinegar flies to humans, discriminate a wide range of tastants, including sugars, bitter compounds, NaCl, and sour. However, the taste of Ca²⁺ is poorly understood, and it is unclear whether animals such as Drosophila melanogaster are endowed with this sense. Here, we examined Ca²⁺ taste in Drosophila and showed that high levels of Ca²⁺ are aversive. The repulsion was mediated by two mechanisms-activation of a specific class of gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs), which suppresses feeding and inhibition of sugar-activated GRNs, which normally stimulates feeding. The distaste for Ca²⁺, and Ca²⁺-activated action potentials required several members of the variant ionotropic receptor (IR) family (IR25a, IR62a, and

SUBMITTER: Lee Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5777298 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature