Complex representation of taste quality by second-order gustatory neurons in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Sweet and bitter compounds excite different sensory cells and drive opposing behaviors. However, it remains unclear how sweet and bitter tastes are represented by the neural circuits linking sensation to behavior. To investigate this question in Drosophila, we devised trans-Tango(activity), a strategy for calcium imaging of second-order gustatory projection neurons based on trans-Tango, a genetic transsynaptic tracing technique. We found spatial overlap between the projection neuron populations activated by sweet and bitter tastants. The spatial representation of bitter tastants in the projection neurons was consistent, while that of sweet tastants was heterogeneous. Furthermore, we discovered that bitter tastants evoke responses in the gustatory receptor neurons and projection neurons upo

SUBMITTER: Snell NJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9474709 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature