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Taste cues elicit prolonged modulation of feeding behavior in Drosophila

Summary

This study shows that fruit flies can remember tastes they recently experienced and adjust their future feeding behavior based on these memories. After tasting something sweet, flies become more likely to feed in the next few seconds, while tasting something bitter makes them less likely to feed. Interestingly, nerve cells must remain active even after the taste is gone to maintain this memory, suggesting the brain stores taste information in a special way.

Background

Taste cues regulate immediate feeding behavior, but their ability to modulate future feeding responses over time has been less well studied. Previous research showed that pairing tastes during simultaneous exposure can modulate subsequent feeding through associative learning, but it is unclear whether sequential taste exposures produce similar effects.

Objective

To investigate whether exposure to one taste modulates future responses to other tastes even when the tastes do not overlap in time. The study aimed to determine if animals can integrate taste information sequentially as they sample different food sources.

Results

Brief sugar exposure enhanced future feeding responses for 10-40 seconds, while bitter exposure suppressed them. Optogenetic activation of taste neurons recapitulated these effects. Sensory neuron activity was required both during and after taste exposure, though neurons returned to baseline by the time modulation was observed, suggesting ongoing baseline activity maintains downstream changes.

Conclusion

Taste cues elicit prolonged modulation of feeding behavior through neural pathways distinct from those regulating acute feeding or associative learning. This mechanism allows animals to integrate sequential taste information over time to assess local food quality, representing a new form of behavioral flexibility in the taste system.
  • Published in:iScience,
  • Study Type:Basic Research Study,
  • Source: PMID: 36204264, DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.105159
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