Dataset Information

Representations of Taste Modality in the Drosophila Brain.

ABSTRACT: Gustatory receptors and peripheral taste cells have been identified in flies and mammals, revealing that sensory cells are tuned to taste modality across species. How taste modalities are processed in higher brain centers to guide feeding decisions is unresolved. Here, we developed a large-scale calcium-imaging approach coupled with cell labeling to examine how different taste modalities are processed in the fly brain. These studies reveal that sweet, bitter, and water sensory cells activate different cell populations throughout the subesophageal zone, with most cells responding to a single taste modality. Pathways for sweet and bitter tastes are segregated from sensory input to motor output, and this segregation is maintained in higher brain areas, including regions implicated in learning and neuromodulation. Our work reveals independent processing of appetitive and aversive tastes, suggesting that flies and mammals use a similar coding strategy to ensure innate responses to salient compounds.

SUBMITTER: Harris DT

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4474761 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Representations of Taste Modality in the Drosophila Brain.

Harris David T DT Kallman Benjamin R BR Mullaney Brendan C BC Scott Kristin K

Neuron 20150604 6

Gustatory receptors and peripheral taste cells have been identified in flies and mammals, revealing that sensory cells are tuned to taste modality across species. How taste modalities are processed in higher brain centers to guide feeding decisions is unresolved. Here, we developed a large-scale calcium-imaging approach coupled with cell labeling to examine how different taste modalities are processed in the fly brain. These studies reveal that sweet, bitter, and water sensory cells activate dif ...[more]

PMID: 26051423

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Dataset Information

Representations of Taste Modality in the Drosophila Brain.

Publications

Representations of Taste Modality in the Drosophila Brain.

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