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Chemical Communication in a Post-Genomic World (2003) / Chapter Skim
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5 Drosophila Gr5a encodes a taste receptor tuned to trehalose
Pages 14-18

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From page 14...
... Recently we have shown that a member of the Gr family, GrSa, maps to this locus and is necessary for trehalose response in viva (~9~. Deletion mutants of GrSa have a greatly diminished response to trehalose when assayed by electrophysiological recordings from single taste sensilla, or by a behavioral test.
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From page 15...
... i can be monitored with Ca2+-sensitive fluorescent ratiometric indicators, such as fura 2 (16~. We transiently expressed GrSa in S2 cells, loaded them with 100 ,uM fura 2, and applied 100 mM trehalose via puffer pipette (Fig.
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From page 16...
... Because the labellum responds to a variety of sugars, and because the sensilla each contain a single sugar-sensitive neuron, the broad expression we have observed is consistent with a model in which many, if not all, of the sugar-sensitive taste neurons express more than one receptor. This model is supported by our earlier finding that mutation of GrSa affected the physiological response of the sugar cell to trehalose, but not to sucrose, as if many of the sugar-sensitive cells contain both a trehalose receptor, GrSa, and a sucrose receptor (9~.
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From page 17...
... The relatively narrow tuning of GrSa has implications for the mechanism of taste coding. If other Drosophila taste receptors are as specific as GrSa, then an individual tastant is likely to be encoded largely by the activity of one or a small number of receptors, as opposed to the integrated activity of many receptors, each exhibiting a varying degree of response to a ligand.
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From page 18...
... . This model of taste coding is also supported by the severe loss of trehalose response after mutation of a single receptor gene, GrSa.
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Key Terms

  • trehalose response
  • taste receptor
  • taste sensilla
  • van der
  • goes van

  • der goes
  • trehalose receptor
  • van naters
  • intracellular calcium
  • grsa encodes

  • cell line
  • simplest interpretation
  • electrophysiological recordings
  • neurons express
  • receptor genes

  • expressed grsa
  • grsa plays
  • flies carrying
  • glucose units
  • direct evidence

  • functional expression
  • receptor tuned
  • receptor protein
  • taste receptors
  • grsa cdna

  • drosophila taste
  • taste coding
  • heterologous expression
  • puffer pipette
  • trehalose responses


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