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Temporal responses of bumblebee gustatory neurons to sugars

Lookup NU author(s): Sebastien Kessler, Dr Mushtaq Al-Esawy, Dr Ashwin Miriyala, Professor Geraldine Wright

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).

Abstract

© 2022 The Author(s). The sense of taste permits the recognition of valuable nutrients and the avoidance of potential toxins. 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 bursts 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 nonmetabolizable 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.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Parkinson RH, Kessler SC, Scott J, Simpson A, Bu J, Al-Esawy M, Mahdi A, Miriyala A, Wright GA

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: iScience

Year: 2022

Volume: 25

Issue: 7

Print publication date: 15/07/2022

Online publication date: 02/06/2022

Acceptance date: 26/05/2022

Date deposited: 21/07/2022

ISSN (electronic): 2589-0042

Publisher: Elsevier Inc.

URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.104499

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2022.104499

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