Taste Sensors in Fly Legs Control Feeding (IMAGE)

Tohoku University

Taste Sensors in Fly Legs Control Feeding

Caption

Left: Sweet taste neurons in the fly brain (upper panel; blue) and ventral nerve cord (lower panel; blue). Leg neurons initially project to the ventral nerve cord and can be grouped into two classes. One class terminates in the ventral nerve cord (yellow in lower panel) whereas the other continues projecting to the brain (red in upper and lower panel). Sweet taste neurons from the mouthparts can also be seen (yellow in upper panel). Right: Schematic of the function of leg neurons. As soon as a fly steps on food, sweet taste leg neurons terminating in the ventral nerve cord stop movement, while the brain-projecting neurons initiate feeding.

Credit

Vladimiros Thoma

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Credit: Vladimiros Thoma

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