The subapical labial sensory organ of spotted lanternfly .

Deciphering how spotted lanternfly (SLF), an invasive polyphagous planthopper in North America, engages with its environment is a pressing issue with fundamental biological significance and economic importance. This interaction primarily depends on olfaction. However, the cellular basis of olfaction in SLF remains elusive.

Base Recording: A Technique for Analyzing Responses of Taste Neurons in Drosophila.

Insects taste the external world through taste hairs, or sensilla, that have pores at their tips. When a sensillum comes into contact with a potential food source, compounds from the food source enter through the pore and activate neurons within. For over 50 years, these responses have been recorded using a technique called tip recording.

Diverse mechanisms of taste coding in .

Taste systems encode chemical cues that drive vital behaviors. We have elucidated noncanonical features of taste coding using an unconventional kind of electrophysiological analysis. We find that taste neurons of are much more sensitive than previously thought.

Hany K.M. Dweck.

Interview with Hany Dweck, who works on Drosophila chemoreception at Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station.

Cross-generation pheromonal communication drives Drosophila oviposition site choice.

In a heterogeneous and changing environment, oviposition site selection strongly affects the survival and fitness of the offspring. Similarly, competition between larvae affects their prospects. However, little is known about the involvement of pheromones in regulating these processes.

A volatile sex attractant of tsetse flies.

Tsetse flies transmit trypanosomes-parasites that cause devastating diseases in humans and livestock-across much of sub-Saharan Africa. Chemical communication through volatile pheromones is common among insects; however, it remains unknown if and how such chemical communication occurs in tsetse flies. We identified methyl palmitoleate (MPO), methyl oleate, and methyl palmitate as compounds that are produced by the tsetse fly and elicit strong behavioral responses.

Sugar sensation and mechanosensation in the egg-laying preference shift of .

The agricultural pest differs from most other species in that it lays eggs in ripe, rather than overripe, fruit. Previously, we showed that changes in bitter taste sensation accompanied this adaptation (Dweck et al., 2021).

Ir56b is an atypical ionotropic receptor that underlies appetitive salt response in Drosophila.

Salt taste is one of the most ancient of all sensory modalities. However, the molecular basis of salt taste remains unclear in invertebrates. Here, we show that the response to low, appetitive salt concentrations in Drosophila depends on Ir56b, an atypical member of the ionotropic receptor (Ir) family.

Larval sites of the mosquito in forest and domestic habitats in Africa and the potential association with oviposition evolution.

Adaptations to anthropogenic domestic habitats contribute to the success of the mosquito as a major global vector of several arboviral diseases. The species inhabited African forests before expanding into domestic habitats and spreading to other continents. Despite a well-studied evolutionary history, how this species initially moved into human settlements in Africa remains unclear.

Large-scale characterization of sex pheromone communication systems in Drosophila.

Insects use sex pheromones as a reproductive isolating mechanism to attract conspecifics and repel heterospecifics. Despite the profound knowledge of sex pheromones, little is known about the coevolutionary mechanisms and constraints on their production and detection. Using whole-genome sequences to infer the kinship among 99 drosophilids, we investigate how phylogenetic and chemical traits have interacted at a wide evolutionary timescale.

Evolutionary shifts in taste coding in the fruit pest .

Although most species lay eggs in overripe fruit, the agricultural pest lays eggs in ripe fruit. We found that changes in bitter taste perception have accompanied this adaptation. We show that bitter-sensing mutants of undergo a shift in egg laying preference toward ripe fruit.

Mate discrimination among subspecies through a conserved olfactory pathway.

Communication mechanisms underlying the sexual isolation of species are poorly understood. Using four subspecies of as a model, we identify two behaviorally active, male-specific pheromones. One functions as a conserved male antiaphrodisiac in all subspecies and acts via gustation.

Molecular Logic and Evolution of Bitter Taste in Drosophila.

Taste systems detect a vast diversity of toxins, which are perceived as bitter. When a species adapts to a new environment, its taste system must adapt to detect new death threats. We deleted each of six commonly expressed bitter gustatory receptors (Grs) from Drosophila melanogaster.

The Olfactory Logic behind Fruit Odor Preferences in Larval and Adult Drosophila.

Despite the comprehensive knowledge on odor coding, our understanding of the relationship between sensory input and behavioral output in Drosophila remains weak. Here, we measure the behavioral responses generated by larval and adult flies in response to 34 fruit odors and find that larval preference for fruit odors differs from that of adult flies. Next, we provide a functional analysis of the full repertoire of the peripheral olfactory system using the same comprehensive stimulus spectrum.

A Drosophila female pheromone elicits species-specific long-range attraction via an olfactory channel with dual specificity for sex and food.

Background: Mate finding and recognition in animals evolves during niche adaptation and involves social signals and habitat cues. Drosophila melanogaster and related species are known to be attracted to fermenting fruit for feeding and egg-laying, which poses the question of whether species-specific fly odours contribute to long-range premating communication.

Results: We have discovered an olfactory channel in D.

Olfactory coding from the periphery to higher brain centers in the Drosophila brain.

Background: Odor information is processed through multiple receptor-glomerular channels in the first order olfactory center, the antennal lobe (AL), then reformatted into higher brain centers and eventually perceived by the fly. To reveal the logic of olfaction, it is fundamental to map odor representations from the glomerular channels into higher brain centers.

Results: We characterize odor response profiles of AL projection neurons (PNs) originating from 31 glomeruli using whole cell patch-clamp recordings in Drosophila melanogaster.

Elucidating the Neuronal Architecture of Olfactory Glomeruli in the Drosophila Antennal Lobe.

Olfactory glomeruli are morphologically conserved spherical compartments of the olfactory system, distinguishable solely by their chemosensory repertoire, anatomical position, and volume. Little is known, however, about their numerical neuronal composition. We therefore characterized their neuronal architecture and correlated these anatomical features with their functional properties in Drosophila melanogaster.

Activation of Latent Courtship Circuitry in the Brain of Drosophila Females Induces Male-like Behaviors.

Courtship in Drosophila melanogaster offers a powerful experimental paradigm for the study of innate sexually dimorphic behaviors [1, 2]. Fruit fly males exhibit an elaborate courtship display toward a potential mate [1, 2]. Females never actively court males, but their response to the male's display determines whether mating will actually occur.

Olfactory channels associated with the Drosophila maxillary palp mediate short- and long-range attraction.

The vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster is equipped with two peripheral olfactory organs, antenna and maxillary palp. The antenna is involved in finding food, oviposition sites and mates. However, the functional significance of the maxillary palp remained unknown.

Drosophila Avoids Parasitoids by Sensing Their Semiochemicals via a Dedicated Olfactory Circuit.

Detecting danger is one of the foremost tasks for a neural system. Larval parasitoids constitute clear danger to Drosophila, as up to 80% of fly larvae become parasitized in nature. We show that Drosophila melanogaster larvae and adults avoid sites smelling of the main parasitoid enemies, Leptopilina wasps.

Pheromones mediating copulation and attraction in Drosophila.

Intraspecific olfactory signals known as pheromones play important roles in insect mating systems. In the model Drosophila melanogaster, a key part of the pheromone-detecting system has remained enigmatic through many years of research in terms of both its behavioral significance and its activating ligands. Here we show that Or47b-and Or88a-expressing olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) detect the fly-produced odorants methyl laurate (ML), methyl myristate, and methyl palmitate.

Olfactory proxy detection of dietary antioxidants in Drosophila.

Background: Dietary antioxidants play an important role in preventing oxidative stress. Whether animals in search of food or brood sites are able to judge the antioxidant content, and if so actively seek out resources with enriched antioxidant content, remains unclear.

Results: We show here that the vinegar fly Drosophila melanogaster detects the presence of hydroxycinnamic acids (HCAs)-potent dietary antioxidants abundant in fruit-via olfactory cues.

Evolution of insect olfactory receptors.

The olfactory sense detects a plethora of behaviorally relevant odor molecules; gene families involved in olfaction exhibit high diversity in different animal phyla. Insects detect volatile molecules using olfactory (OR) or ionotropic receptors (IR) and in some cases gustatory receptors (GRs). While IRs are expressed in olfactory organs across Protostomia, ORs have been hypothesized to be an adaptation to a terrestrial insect lifestyle.