Not all sugars are created equal: some mask aversive tastes better than others in an herbivorous insect

Cocco, Nicolette; Glendinning, John I.

doi:10.1242/jeb.059832

Cited by 30 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 42 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This reduction is consistent with the know inhibitory effect of bitter substances on sucrose receptor cells (Bernays and Chapman, 2000, 2001; De Brito Sanchez et al, 2005; Cocco and Glendinning, 2012). …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The tarsal taste of honey bees: behavioral and electrophysiological analyses

Sanchez

Lorenzo

et al. 2014

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Taste plays a crucial role in the life of honey bees as their survival depends on the collection and intake of nectar and pollen, and other natural products. Here we studied the tarsal taste of honey bees through a series of behavioral and electrophysiological analyses. We characterized responsiveness to various sweet, salty and bitter tastants delivered to gustatory sensilla of the fore tarsi. Behavioral experiments showed that stimulation of opposite fore tarsi with sucrose and bitter substances or water yielded different outcomes depending on the stimulation sequence. When sucrose was applied first, thereby eliciting proboscis extension, no bitter substance could induce proboscis retraction, thus suggesting that the primacy of sucrose stimulation induced a central excitatory state. When bitter substances or water were applied first, sucrose stimulation could still elicit proboscis extension but to a lower level, thus suggesting central inhibition based on contradictory gustatory input on opposite tarsi. Electrophysiological experiments showed that receptor cells in the gustatory sensilla of the tarsomeres are highly sensitive to saline solutions at low concentrations. No evidence for receptors responding specifically to sucrose or to bitter substances was found in these sensilla. Receptor cells in the gustatory sensilla of the claws are highly sensitive to sucrose. Although bees do not possess dedicated bitter-taste receptors in the tarsi, indirect bitter detection is possible because bitter tastes inhibit sucrose receptor cells of the claws when mixed with sucrose solution. By combining behavioral and electrophysiological approaches, these results provide the first integrative study on tarsal taste detection in the honey bee.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

The tarsal taste of honey bees: behavioral and electrophysiological analyses

Sanchez

Lorenzo

et al. 2014

Front. Behav. Neurosci.

118

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In insects, for instance, sugars increase stimulation to taste91 and can mask the deterrent effect of other compounds92. Additionally, we performed the feeding experiments only with the sea urchin P. lividus , whereas different herbivore species may have responded differently to CO 2 -driven changes in plant chemical composition4574 or epiphyte abundance or composition since it is expected that fleshy epiphytes may increase93 and calcareous epibionts would decrease their abundance under low pH conditions30.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) seedlings in a high-CO2 world: from physiology to herbivory

Hernán

Ramajo

Basso

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Under future increased CO2 concentrations, seagrasses are predicted to perform better as a result of increased photosynthesis, but the effects in carbon balance and growth are unclear and remain unexplored for early life stages such as seedlings, which allow plant dispersal and provide the potential for adaptation under changing environmental conditions. Furthermore, the outcome of the concomitant biochemical changes in plant-herbivore interactions has been poorly studied, yet may have important implications in plant communities. In this study we determined the effects of experimental exposure to current and future predicted CO2 concentrations on the physiology, size and defense strategies against herbivory in the earliest life stage of the Mediterranean seagrass Posidonia oceanica. The photosynthetic performance of seedlings, assessed by fluorescence, improved under increased pCO2 conditions after 60 days, although these differences disappeared after 90 days. Furthermore, these plants exhibited bigger seeds and higher carbon storage in belowground tissues, having thus more resources to tolerate and recover from stressors. Of the several herbivory resistance traits measured, plants under high pCO2 conditions had a lower leaf N content but higher sucrose. These seedlings were preferred by herbivorous sea urchins in feeding trials, which could potentially counteract some of the positive effects observed.

show abstract

“…Using this simple metric, the organism can determine with some accuracy the beneficial value of a novel plant-based food. One instructive example of this push-pull system occurs in the Manduca sexta caterpillar [72]. In this insect, some sugars suppress sensitivity to bitter compounds without the sugars themselves eliciting immediate appetitive behavior.…”

Section: Taste Mixtures May Be a Basis For Evolution Of Sweet Tastementioning

confidence: 99%

Why do we like sweet taste: A bitter tale?

Beauchamp

2016

Physiology & Behavior

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sweet is widely considered to be one of a small number of basic or primary taste qualities. Liking for sweet tasting substances is innate, although postnatal experiences can shape responses. The power of sweet taste to induce consumption and to motivate behavior is profound, suggesting the importance of this sense for many species. Most investigators presume that the ability to identify sweet molecules through the sense of taste evolved to allow organisms to detect sources of readily available glucose from plants. Perhaps the best evidence supporting this presumption are recent discoveries in comparative biology demonstrating that species in the order Carnivora that do not consume plants also do not perceive sweet taste due to the pseudogenization of a component of the primary sweet taste receptor. However, arguing against this idea is the observation that the sweetness of a plant, or the amount of easily metabolizable sugars contained in the plant, provides little quantitative indication of the plant’s energy or broadly conceived food value. Here it is suggested that the perceptual ratio of sweet taste to bitter taste (a signal for toxicity) may be a better gauge of a plant’s broadly conceived food value than sweetness alone and that it is this ratio that helps guide selection or rejection of a potential plant food.

show abstract

Not all sugars are created equal: some mask aversive tastes better than others in an herbivorous insect

Cited by 30 publications

References 42 publications

The tarsal taste of honey bees: behavioral and electrophysiological analyses

The tarsal taste of honey bees: behavioral and electrophysiological analyses

Seagrass (Posidonia oceanica) seedlings in a high-CO2 world: from physiology to herbivory

Why do we like sweet taste: A bitter tale?

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About