Molecular and neuronal mechanisms for amino acid taste perception in the Drosophila labellum

Protocol for binary food choice assays using Drosophila melanogaster

“…Chemosensation is further classified into two sensory components: smell and taste. Insects like fruit flies and mosquitoes have a capability of detecting a similar range of gustatory stimuli as those to humans, including bitter, sweet, sour, salt, and amino acids ( Aryal et al., 2022 ; Liman et al., 2014 ). Many insects are endowed with gustatory organs distributed throughout the body, including the labellum, pharynx, legs, wing margins, and even the female genitalia ( Chen and Dahanukar, 2020 ; Rimal and Lee, 2018 ; Vosshall and Stocker, 2007 ).…”

“…However, labellum and legs are the major taste organs, which mediate a major role in contact chemosensation in insects. The full benefit of this behavioral assay is realized when performed in combination with an electrophysiological assay that measures tastant-induced action potentials in gustatory receptor neurons (tip recordings) ( Aryal et al., 2022 ; Dhakal et al., 2021 ; Shrestha and Lee, 2021a ).…”

“…, 2022). Complete preference is indicated by P.I values of 1.0 and -1.0 while a P.I value of 0 indicates the absence of a bias between the two food choices ( Aryal et al., 2022 ; Dhakal et al., 2021 ; Shrestha and Lee, 2021b ; Shrestha et al., 2022 ).

Figure 1 Binary food choice assay (A) Photograph of 72-well microtiter plate containing red dye and blue dye mixed food for a binary food choice assay.

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“…This protocol is simple, sensitive, and reproducible in qualitatively detecting attractive or aversive characteristics toward any two-way choice tastants. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Aryal et al. (2022) .…”

“…For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Aryal et al. (2022) .…”