Mechanism of Taste Perception in Drosophila
Chapter
Overview
Research
Identity
Additional Document Info
Other
View All
Overview
abstract
2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Drosophila has served as the primary model system in studies on insect taste. Early electrophysiological and behavioral analyses have identified four basic taste modalities in the fly: the appetitive taste modalities of sweet, low concentration of salt and water, and the aversive taste of high concentration of salt. Extension of behavioral analyses and identification and expression studies of two distinct families of taste receptors genes, the gustatory receptor and ionotropic receptor genes, have expanded insect taste to include fatty acid, amino acids, and carboxylic acids, all of which are appetitive or appetitive enhancing, and aversive bitter taste. Molecular genetic investigations have now firmly associated sweet and bitter taste with specific gustatory receptor subfamilies. Pickpocket (PPK) 28, a degenerin/epithelial sodium channel family protein, is essential for water sensing. Future research will focus on the ionotropic receptor genes and their potential role in the other insect taste modalities.
