Healthy Research Rewards
ResearchHub is incentivizing healthy research behavior. At this time, first authors of open access papers are eligible for rewards. Visit the publications tab to view your eligible publications.
Got it
JB
Jennifer Bu
Author with expertise in Global Prevalence and Treatment of Glaucoma
Achievements
Open Access Advocate
Key Stats
Upvotes received:
0
Publications:
2
(50% Open Access)
Cited by:
1
h-index:
4
/
i10-index:
2
Reputation
Biology
< 1%
Chemistry
< 1%
Economics
< 1%
Show more
How is this calculated?
Publications
6

Temporal responses of bumblebee gustatory neurons to sugars

Rachel Parkinson et al.Mar 2, 2022
The sense of taste permits the recognition of valuable nutrients and the avoidance of potential toxins. Models of gustatory coding propose that within modalities (e.g. sweet, bitter, etc.), taste ligands are not distinct stimuli. However, these models are based on data from mice or flies that have omnivorous, non-specialist diets. A specialist feeder might, however, be expected to have acuity within modality if stimulus resolution was critical to survival. Previously, we found that bumblebees have a specialized mechanism for sensing sugars whereby two gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) within the galeal sensilla of the bees’ mouthparts exhibit burst of spikes. Here, we show that the temporal firing patterns of these GRNs separate sugars into four distinct groups that correlate with sugar nutritional value and palatability. We also identified a third GRN that responded to stimulation with relatively high concentrations of fructose, sucrose, and maltose. Sugars that were non-metabolizable or toxic suppressed the responses of bursting GRNs to sucrose. These abilities to encode information about sugar value are a refinement to the bumblebee’s sense of sweet taste that could be an adaptation that enables precise calculations of the nature and nutritional value of floral nectar.
6
Citation1
0
Save