Processing Gustatory Information in the Fly Brain

糖是动物从环境中获取能量以生存所必需的营养物质，如 个体和物种。感觉神经元上的味觉受体直接检测潜在食物中的糖 来源，使动物能够评估营养价值。味觉系统对糖的检测驱动先天进食 行为，认为糖的内在价值嵌入在发育和发育过程中建立的先天回路中 在进化的过程中变得精致。此外，糖对动物的生存至关重要，也是一种有益的刺激。 学习联想的其他线索的正值。这项建议的长期目标是获得洞察力 进入检测糖分的味觉通路，以确定这些基本化合物如何促进进食和 充当奖励信号。目标1将研究从感官检测到摄食启动的味觉处理路径， 利用对电路中几个神经元的行为、功能和解剖学研究。这些研究将提供 深入了解味觉检测和内部状态如何集成到神经电路中，以做出喂养决策 并将其付诸实施。目标2将研究糖的味道检测如何作为给予正价的奖励。 到其他相关的线索上。这些研究将检验这一假设，即存在两条传递信息的途径 奖赏的不同方面，一条味觉特定的途径和一条传递更广泛环境的途径 背景。这些研究将确定糖的感官激活如何转化为 记忆系统中的甜味。拟议的分子遗传、细胞和功能方法将 提供在其他系统中难以实现的口味处理的全面分析。这些研究 将提供对味觉信息在大脑中是如何处理的洞察，并为 了解昆虫饲养，与限制虫媒疾病的传播有关。

Sugars are essential nutrients that allow animals to derive energy from the environment to survive, as individuals and as species. Gustatory receptors on sensory neurons directly detect sugars in potential food sources, allowing animals to assess nutrient value. Sugar detection by the gustatory system drives innate feeding behaviors, arguing that the inherent value of sugars is embedded in innate circuits set up in development and refined over evolution. In addition, sugars are critical to animal survival and serve as rewarding stimuli that impart positive valence to other cues for learned associations. The long-term objective of this proposal is to gain insight into the taste pathways that detect sugars, to determine how these essential compounds promote feeding and act as reward signals. Aim 1 will examine taste processing pathways from sensory detection to feeding initiation, using behavioral, functional, and anatomical studies of several neurons in the circuit. These studies will provide insight into how taste detection and internal state are integrated in neural circuits to arrive at feeding decisions and to carry them out. Aim 2 will examine how sugar taste detection serves as a reward to impart positive valence onto other associated cues. These studies will test the hypothesis that there are two pathways that convey different aspects of reward, one taste-specific pathway and one pathway that relays a broader environmental context. These studies will determine how sugar sensory activation is transformed into the rewarding qualities of sweet taste in the memory system. The proposed molecular genetic, cellular and functional approaches will provide a comprehensive analysis of taste processing that is difficult to achieve in other systems. These studies will provide insight into how gustatory information is processed in the brain and an essential foundation for understanding insect feeding, relevant to limiting the spread of insect-borne disease.