# Molecular basis of adaptation in a chemosensory system

> **NIH NIH K01** · CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STA · 2024 · $123,224

## Abstract

Project Summary
 The long-term goal of this project is to elucidate at the molecular and cellular levels how chemosensory
systems function and evolve so as to generate new behaviors that are adaptive to new environments. It focuses
on one of the most ancient and fundamental problems in biology: how sensory systems adapt to allow an
organism to exploit a new environment.
 Drosophila suzukii provides an excellent opportunity to decipher chemosensory mechanisms that have
contributed to its unique oviposition behavior. Whereas other species of Drosophila lay eggs in fermenting fruit
of no value, D. suzukii lays eggs in ripe fruit, ruining crops. The oviposition preferences of flies are based largely
on taste. This proposal takes advantage of the wealth of knowledge about the mechanisms of taste in D.
melanogaster. We aim to elucidate how these mechanisms have changed in D. suzukii to produce a preference
for ripe, as opposed to overripe, fruits.
 The first aim will provide a rigorous analysis of the expression and functional requirements of candidate
genes in the oviposition shift of D. suzukii. The experimental plan is designed to test hypotheses as to molecular
mechanisms underlying the oviposition shift of D. suzukii.
 The second aim will provide a rigorous analysis of the role of candidate genes in oviposition preference
for individual candidate oviposition cues. The proposed experiments are designed to identify key oviposition
cues, to test them behaviorally, and to examine the role of candidate genes in the oviposition preference to them.
 The third aim takes advantage of a recent advance in electrophysiology that allows an unprecedented
view of how a taste system has evolved at the cellular level. It will elucidate the cellular basis of a major shift in
oviposition behavior that has immense economic implications. It may decipher the molecular logic of taste coding
of a complex natural stimulus.
 Advances in understanding how the chemosensory systems function and evolve may lead to new means
of controlling agricultural pests and insect vectors of human diseases, which afflict hundreds of millions of people
each year.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10763871
- **Project number:** 5K01DC020145-04
- **Recipient organization:** CONNECTICUT AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STA
- **Principal Investigator:** Hany Dweck
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $123,224
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2022-02-10 → 2027-01-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10763871

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10763871, Molecular basis of adaptation in a chemosensory system (5K01DC020145-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10763871. Licensed CC0.

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