A Comparison of Nutritive Values and Taste Thresholds of Carbohydrates for the Blowfly

Hassett, Charles C.; Dethier, V. G.; Gans, J.

doi:10.2307/1538475

Cited by 88 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…Consistent with previous results, we found that sucrose, fructose, maltose, D-glucose, mannose, and sorbitol all robustly supported survival, indicating that they provide metabolically accessible energy to the flies (Fig. 1 A) (Hassett, 1948;Hassett et al, 1950;Burke and Waddell, 2011;Fujita and Tanimura, 2011). By contrast, L-fucose, L-glucose, ribose, and arabinose failed to substantially extend lifespan over water controls, suggesting that they have little or no nutritional value.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentsupporting

confidence: 90%

“…We first wished to define the nutritive content and palatability (appetitive taste) of 10 sugars that previous studies in blowflies and Drosophila (Hassett, 1948;Hassett et al, 1950) To measure nutritional content, we housed adult flies in vials containing 1% agar with each individual sugar as their sole food source. Consistent with previous results, we found that sucrose, fructose, maltose, D-glucose, mannose, and sorbitol all robustly supported survival, indicating that they provide metabolically accessible energy to the flies (Fig.…”

Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

et al. 2012

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Animals use gustatory information to assess the suitability of potential food sources and make critical decisions on what to consume. For example, the taste of sugar generally signals a potent dietary source of carbohydrates. However, the intensity of the sensory response to a particular sugar, or "sweetness," is not always a faithful reporter of its nutritional value, and recent evidence suggests that animals can sense the caloric content of food independently of taste. Here, we demonstrate that the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster uses both taste and calorie sensing to determine feeding choices, and that the relative contribution of each changes over time. Using the capillary feeder assay, we allowed flies to choose between sources of sugars that varied in their ratio of sweetness to caloric value. We found that flies initially consume sugars according to taste. However, over several hours their preference shifts toward the food source with higher caloric content. This behavioral shift occurs more rapidly following food deprivation and is modulated by cAMP and insulin signaling within neurons. Our results are consistent with the existence of a taste-independent calorie sensor in flies, and suggest that calorie-based reward modifies long-term feeding preferences.

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Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentsupporting

confidence: 90%

Section: Relationship Between Sugar Palatability and Nutritional Contentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

et al. 2012

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“…However, the preference for D-arabinose (Figure 2D) persisted when the sugars’ concentrations were both reduced 100-fold (10 mM), and began to shift only when the concentration of D-arabinose was reduced to less than a third of L-arabinose (Figure 2—figure supplement 3A). A similar difference between D- and L-arabinose has also been reported in the blowfly Phormia regina , where the taste threshold for D-arabinose is reported to be five times lower than that of L-arabinose (Hassett et al, 1950). When we measured consumption by Capillary Feeder (CAFÉ) assays over a concentration range (Figure 2—figure supplement 3B) or by mixing radioactive [32]P in the food in fixed concentration (Figure 2—figure supplement 3C), the flies consumed more D- than L-arabinose.…”

Section: Resultssupporting

confidence: 72%

Immediate perception of a reward is distinct from the reward’s long-term salience

McGinnis

Jiang

Agha

et al. 2016

eLife

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Reward perception guides all aspects of animal behavior. However, the relationship between the perceived value of a reward, the latent value of a reward, and the behavioral response remains unclear. Here we report that, given a choice between two sweet and chemically similar sugars—L- and D-arabinose—Drosophila melanogaster prefers D- over L- arabinose, but forms long-term memories of L-arabinose more reliably. Behavioral assays indicate that L-arabinose-generated memories require sugar receptor Gr43a, and calcium imaging and electrophysiological recordings indicate that L- and D-arabinose differentially activate Gr43a-expressing neurons. We posit that the immediate valence of a reward is not always predictive of the long-term reinforcement value of that reward, and that a subset of sugar-sensing neurons may generate distinct representations of similar sugars, allowing for rapid assessment of the salient features of various sugar rewards and generation of reward-specific behaviors. However, how sensory neurons communicate information about L-arabinose quality and concentration—features relevant for long-term memory—remains unknown.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.22283.001

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“…Furthermore, whereas this study focuses on the labella of A. gambiae, the presence of sugar-sensitive neurones capable of responding to glucose or fructose remains to be verified in gustatory sensilla on tarsi, at the labrum tip, on the inner surfaces of the labella and within the cibarium where taste neurones may occur (McIver 1982). Feeding choices made by insects do not just depend on the ability of a ligand to activate or inhibit peripheral taste neurones (Hassett et al 1950). Insects also have post-ingestive pathways for assessing nutrient quality that can modulate feeding preferences (Burke and Waddell 2011;Fujita and Tanimura 2011;Wright 2011;Dus et al 2011;Stafford et al 2012).…”

Section: Neurophysiology Of Sugar-sensitive Neurones In a Gambiaementioning

confidence: 93%

“…To date, sensitivity of taste neurones to other sugars has not been investigated in A. gambiae and few studies have attempted to correlate the nutritional value of sugars for an animal with the sensory responses of its peripheral taste receptor neurones. It is possible that many sugars can be perceived as such yet not to have a metabolic value; likewise, some sugars that have no taste might still be metabolized (Hassett et al 1950;Burke and Waddell 2011;Fujita and Tanimura 2011;Stafford et al 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sugar-sensitive neurone responses and sugar feeding preferences influence lifespan and biting behaviours of the Afrotropical malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae

2015

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Floral nectar is the main source of carbohydrates for many insects including mosquitoes. Nonetheless, the physiological mechanisms underlying feeding on carbohydrates by the Afrotropical malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae remain poorly understood. Here, we tested whether sugar sensitivity and sugar feeding preferences correlate with longevity in A. gambiae. We also tested whether feeding females on different sugar diets influences their biting behaviours. Electrophysiological recordings show that sugar neurones on the labella of females are most sensitive to sucrose, mixtures of glucose and fructose, and to melezitose; other sugars tested, including glucose and fructose presented alone, only weakly activate these taste neurones. Mosquitoes survive longest on sucrose, the most preferred sugar. Whereas feeding on a mixture of glucose and fructose is preferred over fructose or glucose alone, fructose supports higher longevity than either glucose or the mixture of the two hexoses. Females that had previously fed on glucose show a stronger biting response than those fed on sucrose, perhaps in an effort to compensate for their lower energetic state. These findings contribute to our understanding of the physiological basis of sugar feeding in A. gambiae and indicate how the sugar diet can affect laboratory-reared A. gambiae biting behaviours.

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A Comparison of Nutritive Values and Taste Thresholds of Carbohydrates for the Blowfly

Cited by 88 publications

References 0 publications

Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

Integration of Taste and Calorie Sensing inDrosophila

Immediate perception of a reward is distinct from the reward’s long-term salience

Sugar-sensitive neurone responses and sugar feeding preferences influence lifespan and biting behaviours of the Afrotropical malaria mosquito, Anopheles gambiae

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