Taste Processing in Drosophila
Status: This talk is in preparation - details may change
The ability to identify nutrient-rich food 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 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. We have utilized a combination of molecular, behavioral, and calcium imaging studies to determine the taste ligands of different gustatory neurons and understand 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.
Date: 7 September 2015, 12:00 (Monday, 20th week, Trinity 2015)
Venue: Sherrington Building, off Parks Road OX1 3PT
Venue Details: Sherrington Library
Speaker: Professor Kristin Scott (University of California, Berkeley)
Organising department: Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics (DPAG)
Organiser: Fiona Woods (University of Oxford, Department of Physiology Anatomy and Genetics, Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour)
Organiser contact email address: fiona.woods@cncb.ox.ac.uk
Part of: CNCB Seminar Series
Booking required?: Not required
Audience: Members of the University only
Editor: Fiona Woods