Control of Sugar and Amino Acid Feeding via Pharyngeal Taste Neurons.

ABSTRACT: Insect gustatory systems comprise multiple taste organs for detecting chemicals that signal palatable or noxious quality. Although much is known about how taste neurons sense various chemicals, many questions remain about how individual taste neurons in each taste organ control feeding. Here, we use the Drosophila pharynx as a model to investigate how taste information is encoded at the cellular level to regulate consumption of sugars and amino acids. We first generate taste-blind animals and establish a critical role for pharyngeal input in food selection. We then investigate feeding behavior of both male and female flies in which only selected classes of pharyngeal neurons are restored via binary choice feeding preference assays as well as Fly Liquid-Food Interaction Counter assay

SUBMITTER: Chen YD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8265808 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature