Food is simultaneously a source of essential nutrients and a potential source of lethal toxins
and pathogens. Consequently, multiple sensory mechanisms evolved to monitor the quality …

The insect gustatory system senses taste information from environmental food substrates
and processes it to control feeding behaviors. Drosophila melanogaster has been a …

The fruit fly can evaluate its energy state and decide whether to pursue food-related cues.
Here, we reveal that the mushroom body (MB) integrates hunger and satiety signals to …

Each taste modality is generally encoded by a single, molecularly defined, population of
sensory cells. However, salt stimulates multiple taste pathways in mammals and insects …

Behavioral flexibility is critical to survival. Animals must adapt their behavioral responses
based on changes in the environmental context, internal state, or experience. Studies in …

Recent studies find that sugar tastes less intense to humans with obesity, but whether this
sensory change is a cause or a consequence of obesity is unclear. To tackle this question …

Hunger is a motivational state that drives eating and food-seeking behaviour. In a
psychological sense, hunger sets the goal that guides an animal in the pursuit of food. The …

Octopamine (OA) and tyramine (TA) are closely related biogenic monoamines that act as
signalling compounds in invertebrates, where they fulfil the roles played by adrenaline and …

A prominent idea emerging from the study of sleep is that this key behavioural state is
regulated in a complex fashion by ecologically and physiologically relevant environmental …

To optimize fitness, animals must dynamically match food choices to their current needs. For
drosophilids, yeast fulfills most dietary protein and micronutrient requirements. While several …