Softness sensing and learning in larvae.

Mechanosensation provides animals with important sensory information in addition to olfaction and gustation during feeding behavior. Here, we used larvae to investigate the role of softness sensing in behavior and learning. In the natural environment, larvae need to dig into soft foods for feeding.

Preference for and learning of amino acids in larval .

Relative to other nutrients, less is known about how animals sense amino acids and how behaviour is organized accordingly. This is a significant gap in our knowledge because amino acids are required for protein synthesis - and hence for life as we know it. Choosing larvae as a case study, we provide the first systematic analysis of both the preference behaviour for, and the learning of, all 20 canonical amino acids in We report that preference for individual amino acids differs according to the kind of amino acid, both in first-instar and in third-instar larvae.