生物谷報(bào)道：果蠅被水果味吸引并不奇怪。最近的研究工作顯示,，果蠅還能嗅到二氧化碳并作出反應(yīng)。二氧化碳是果蠅在野外可能會(huì)碰到的發(fā)酵中的水果的一種標(biāo)記物?，F(xiàn)在,，果蠅還被發(fā)現(xiàn)能夠通過(guò)其吻部的一組專門的神經(jīng)元“嘗”到以碳酸水形式存在的二氧化碳。這一新穎的味覺(jué)模式有可能幫助果蠅獲得由微生物所產(chǎn)生的營(yíng)養(yǎng)物質(zhì),。
原始出處:
Nature 448, 1054-1057 (30 August 2007) | doi:10.1038/nature06101; Received 18 June 2007; Accepted 17 July 2007
The detection of carbonation by the Drosophila gustatory system
Walter Fischler1,2, Priscilla Kong1,2, Sunanda Marella1,2 & Kristin Scott1,2
Department of Molecular and Cell Biology,
Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, 291 Life Sciences Addition, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
Correspondence to: Kristin Scott1,2 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to K.S. (Email: [email protected]).
There are five known taste modalities in humans: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami (the taste of monosodium glutamate). Although the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster tastes sugars, salts and noxious chemicals, the nature and number of taste modalities in this organism is not clear. Previous studies have identified one taste cell population marked by the gustatory receptor gene Gr5a that detects sugars, and a second population marked by Gr66a that detects bitter compounds1, 2, 3, 4. Here we identify a novel taste modality in this insect: the taste of carbonated water. We use a combination of anatomical, calcium imaging and behavioural approaches to identify a population of taste neurons that detects CO2 and mediates taste acceptance behaviour. The taste of carbonation may allow Drosophila to detect and obtain nutrients from growing microorganisms. Whereas CO2 detection by the olfactory system mediates avoidance5, CO2 detection by the gustatory system mediates acceptance behaviour, demonstrating that the context of CO2 determines appropriate behaviour. This work opens up the possibility that the taste of carbonation may also exist in other organisms.
