@article {137339, title = {Tracking Sugar-Elicited Local Searching Behavior in Drosophila.}, journal = {J Vis Exp}, year = {2023}, month = {2023 Nov 17}, abstract = {

Foraging behavior is essential for the survival of organisms as it enables them to locate and acquire essential food resources. In Drosophila, hunger triggers a distinct search behavior following the consumption of small quantities of a sugar solution. This report presents a simple experimental setup to study sugar-elicited search behavior with the aim of uncovering the underlying mechanisms. Minute quantities of concentrated sugar solution elicit sustained searching behavior in flies. The involvement of path integration in this behavior has been established, as flies utilize their trajectory to return to the sugar location. The most recent findings provide evidence of temporal modulation in the initiation and intensity of the search behavior after sugar intake. We have also used this setup for artificial activation of specific taste-receptor neurons in the pharynx, which elicits the search behavior. The Drosophila neurogenetic toolkit offers a diverse array of tools and techniques that can be combined with the sugar-elicited search behavior paradigm to study the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying foraging. Understanding the neural basis of hunger-driven searching behavior in flies contributes to the field of neurobiology as a whole, offering insights into the regulatory mechanisms that govern feeding behaviors not only in other organisms but also in humans.

}, keywords = {Animals, Appetitive Behavior, Carbohydrates, Drosophila, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Feeding Behavior, Humans, Sugars}, issn = {1940-087X}, doi = {10.3791/65955}, author = {Shakeel, Manal and Kaushik, Shivam and Tanimura, Teiichi and Brockmann, Axel and Kain, Pinky} } @article {48887, title = {Sugar Intake Elicits Intelligent Searching Behavior in Flies and Honey Bees.}, journal = {Front Behav Neurosci}, volume = {12}, year = {2018}, month = {2018}, pages = {280}, abstract = {

We present a comparison of the sugar-elicited search behavior in and . In both species, intake of sugar-water elicits a complex of searching responses. The most obvious response was an increase in turning frequency. However, we also found that flies and honey bees returned to the location of the sugar drop. They even returned to the food location when we prevented them from using visual and chemosensory cues. Analyses of the recorded trajectories indicated that flies and bees use two mechanisms, a locomotor pattern involving an increased turning frequency and path integration to increase the probability to stay close or even return to the sugar drop location. However, evidence for the use of path integration in honey bees was less clear. In general, walking trajectories of honey bees showed a higher degree of curvature and were more spacious; two characters which likely masked evidence for the use of path integration in our experiments. Visual cues, i.e., a black dot, presented underneath the sugar drop made flies and honey bees stay closer to the starting point of the search. In honey bees, vertical black columns close to the sugar drop increased the probability to visit similar cues in the vicinity. An additional one trial learning experiment suggested that the intake of sugar-water likely has the potential to initiate an associative learning process. Together, our experiments indicate that the sugar-elicited local search is more complex than previously assumed. Most importantly, this local search behavior appeared to exhibit major behavioral capabilities of large-scale navigation. Thus, we propose that sugar-elicited search behavior has the potential to become a fruitful behavioral paradigm to identify neural and molecular mechanisms involved in general mechanisms of navigation.

}, issn = {1662-5153}, doi = {10.3389/fnbeh.2018.00280}, author = {Brockmann, Axel and Basu, Pallab and Shakeel, Manal and Murata, Satoshi and Murashima, Naomi and Boyapati, Ravi Kumar and Prabhu, Nikhil G and Herman, Jacob J and Tanimura, Teiichi} } @article {20327, title = {Pharyngeal stimulation with sugar triggers local searching behavior in Drosophila.}, journal = {J Exp Biol}, year = {2017}, month = {2017 Jul 06}, abstract = {

Foraging behavior is essential for all organisms to find food containing nutritional chemicals. A hungry fly of Drosophila melanogaster performs local searching behavior after drinking a small amount of sugar solution. Using video tracking we examined how the searching behavior is regulated in D. melanogaster We found that a small amount of highly concentrated sugar solution induced a long-lasting searching behavior. After the intake of sugar solution, a fly moved around in circles and repeatedly returned to the position where the sugar droplet had been placed. The non-nutritious sugar, D-arabinose, but not the non-sweet nutritious sugar, D-sorbitol, was effective in inducing the behavior, indicating that sweet sensation is essential. Furthermore, pox-neuro mutant flies with no external taste bristles showed local searching behavior, suggesting the involvement of the pharyngeal taste organ. Experimental activation of pharyngeal sugar-sensitive gustatory receptor neurons by capsaicin using the Gal4/UAS system induced local searching behavior. In contrast, inhibition of pharyngeal sugar-responsive gustatory receptor neurons abolished the searching behavior. Together our results indicate that in Drosophila the pharyngeal taste-receptor neurons trigger searching behavior immediately after ingestion.

}, issn = {1477-9145}, doi = {10.1242/jeb.161646}, author = {Murata, Satoshi and Brockmann, Axel and Tanimura, Teiichi} }