The detection of carbonation by the Drosophila gustatory system.

There are five known taste modalities in humans: sweet, bitter, sour, salty and umami (the taste of monosodium glutamate). Although the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster tastes sugars, salts and noxious chemicals, the nature and number of taste modalities in this organism is not clear. Previous studies have identified one taste cell population marked by the gustatory receptor gene Gr5a that detects sugars, and a second population marked by Gr66a that detects bitter compounds.

Imaging taste responses in the fly brain reveals a functional map of taste category and behavior.

The sense of taste allows animals to distinguish nutritious and toxic substances and elicits food acceptance or avoidance behaviors. In Drosophila, taste cells that contain the Gr5a receptor are necessary for acceptance behavior, and cells with the Gr66a receptor are necessary for avoidance. To determine the cellular substrates of taste behaviors, we monitored taste cell activity in vivo with the genetically encoded calcium indicator G-CaMP.