# Processing Gustatory Information in the Fly Brain

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · 2020 · $323,903

## Abstract

Sugars are essential nutrients that allow animals to derive energy from the environment to survive, as
individuals and as species. Gustatory receptors on sensory neurons directly detect sugars in potential food
sources, allowing animals to assess nutrient value. Sugar detection by the gustatory system drives innate feeding
behaviors, arguing that the inherent value of sugars is embedded in innate circuits set up in development and
refined over evolution. In addition, sugars are critical to animal survival and serve as rewarding stimuli that impart
positive valence to other cues for learned associations. The long-term objective of this proposal is to gain insight
into the taste pathways that detect sugars, to determine how these essential compounds promote feeding and
act as reward signals. Aim 1 will examine taste processing pathways from sensory detection to feeding initiation,
using behavioral, functional, and anatomical studies of several neurons in the circuit. These studies will provide
insight into how taste detection and internal state are integrated in neural circuits to arrive at feeding decisions
and to carry them out. Aim 2 will examine how sugar taste detection serves as a reward to impart positive valence
onto other associated cues. These studies will test the hypothesis that there are two pathways that convey
different aspects of reward, one taste-specific pathway and one pathway that relays a broader environmental
context. These studies will determine how sugar sensory activation is transformed into the rewarding qualities of
sweet taste in the memory system. The proposed molecular genetic, cellular and functional approaches will
provide a comprehensive analysis of taste processing that is difficult to achieve in other systems. These studies
will provide insight into how gustatory information is processed in the brain and an essential foundation for
understanding insect feeding, relevant to limiting the spread of insect-borne disease.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10020784
- **Project number:** 5R01DC013280-07
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY
- **Principal Investigator:** Kristin E Scott
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $323,903
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2013-07-01 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10020784

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10020784, Processing Gustatory Information in the Fly Brain (5R01DC013280-07). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10020784. Licensed CC0.

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