Speaker： Kristin Scott, Ph.D.

Time：13:00 - 14:30

Abstract

The ability to identify food that is nutrient-rich and avoid toxic substances is essential for an animal's survival.  Although olfaction and vision contribute to food detection, the gustatory system acts as a final checkpoint control for food acceptance or rejection.  The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster tastes many of the same stimuli as mammals and provides an excellent model system for comparative studies of taste detection.  The relative simplicity of the fly brain and behaviors, along with the molecular genetic and functional approaches available in Drosophila, allow the examination of gustatory neural circuits from sensory input to motor output.  We have utilized a combination of molecular, behavioral, and calcium imaging studies to determine the taste ligands that different gustatory neurons detect and how taste information is processed in the higher brain.  More recently, we have begun to examine how hunger, satiety and learning influence activity in taste circuits and regulate feeding decisions. These studies provide insight into how taste compounds are detected and processed by the brain.