Freeman Erica Gene, Dahanukar Anupama
Bioengineering Interdepartmental Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Bioengineering Interdepartmental Graduate Program, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA; Department of Entomology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2015 Oct;34:140-8. doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2015.06.001. Epub 2015 Jun 21.
Drosophila is a powerful model in which to study the molecular and cellular basis of taste coding. Flies sense tastants via populations of taste neurons that are activated by compounds of distinct categories. The past few years have borne witness to studies that define the properties of taste neurons, identifying functionally distinct classes of sweet and bitter taste neurons that express unique subsets of gustatory receptor (Gr) genes, as well as water, salt, and pheromone sensing neurons that express members of the pickpocket (ppk) or ionotropic receptor (Ir) families. There has also been significant progress in terms of understanding how tastant information is processed and conveyed to higher brain centers, and modulated by prior dietary experience or starvation.
果蝇是研究味觉编码分子和细胞基础的有力模型。果蝇通过味觉神经元群体感知味觉物质，这些神经元会被不同类别的化合物激活。在过去几年里，已有多项研究明确了味觉神经元的特性，识别出功能不同的甜味和苦味味觉神经元类别，它们表达味觉受体（Gr）基因的独特子集，还有表达“扒手”（ppk）或离子型受体（Ir）家族成员的水、盐和信息素感知神经元。在理解味觉物质信息如何被处理并传递到更高脑区，以及如何受先前饮食经历或饥饿调节方面，也取得了重大进展。
