Amino acid taste modulation by sweet and IR94e neural pathways in Drosophila melanogaster
Neefe, Julia
Neefe, Julia
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Abstract
Sensory systems interact with the environment to drive behavior. Specifically, taste allows an organism to eat beneficial food and avoid dangerous substances. The model organism Drosophila melanogaster, commonly known as the fruit fly, allows us to study how taste leads to behavior and the neurobiology of this phenomenon. This project focuses on understanding the complex and essential taste modality of amino acids, the primary way we consume proteins. Using the recently completed fruit fly whole-brain connectome I examined two neural circuits, one appetitive and one aversive, that are involved in modulating D. melanogaster feeding behavior to amino acids. From each neural circuit I identified one key higher order neuron to investigate. I then used the Proboscis Extension Response (PER) assay in combination with optogenetics to specifically activate or silence each neuron and determine their role in driving amino acid feeding. Looking at the appetitive neural circuit, I replicated previous data showing that activation of the appetitive Gr64f sensory cells and the higher order neuron �Zorro� leads to PER in the absence of a stimulus, confirming their roles in this circuit. I found that silencing �Zorro� diminished PER to sucrose, an appetitive stimulus, but not tryptone, a physiologically relevant mix of amino acids. This suggests the importance of other pathways within the appetitive circuit for amino acid feeding behavior. Examining the aversive neural circuit, I found that activation of both the IR94e sensory cells and the higher order neuron �Pringle� suppresses PER to both sucrose and tryptone, confirming the aversive role of the circuit and suggesting its significance in amino acid feeding behavior. Ongoing work is focusing on silencing of �Pringle� to further confirm its importance in the aversive pathway. This work helps us to further understand how neural circuits regulate feeding behavior to amino acids.
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Date
1/1/2026
Student Status
Senior (Graduating in 2026)
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Poster
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Neuroscience
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College of Arts and Sciences
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Life Science