ArticlePLoS biology2018
The taste of ribonucleosides: Novel macronutrients essential for larval growth are sensed by Drosophila gustatory receptor proteins.
Article in PLoS biology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
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- A structural perspective on insect gustatory receptors.Chemical senses · 2025Review
- Mechanisms of gas sensing by internal sensory neurons inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
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- RNA Taste Is Conserved in Dipteran Insects.The Journal of nutrition · 2023Article
- Gustation in insects: taste qualities and types of evidence used to show taste function of specific body parts.Journal of insect science (Online) · 2023Article
- Internal sensory neurons regulate stage-specific growth in Drosophila.Development (Cambridge, England) · 2022Article
- Gut symbiotic bacteria are involved in nitrogen recycling in the tephritid fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis.BMC biology · 2022Article
- Taste sensing and sugar detection mechanisms ineLife · 2021Article
- Ethanol-guided behavior in Drosophila larvae.Scientific reports · 2021Article
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- Metabolic Cooperation among Commensal Bacteria Supports Drosophila Juvenile Growth under Nutritional Stress.iScience · 2020Article
- Species and sex-specific chemosensory gene expression in Anopheles coluzzii and An. quadriannulatus antennae.Parasites & vectors · 2020Article
- Drosophila-associated bacteria differentially shape the nutritional requirements of their host during juvenile growth.PLoS biology · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Animals employ various types of taste receptors to identify and discriminate between different nutritious food chemicals. These macronutrients are thought to fall into 3 major groups: carbohydrates/sugars, proteins/amino acids, and fats. Here, we report that Drosophila larvae exhibit a novel appetitive feeding behavior towards ribose, ribonucleosides, and RNA. We identified members of the gustatory receptor (Gr) subfamily 28 (Gr28), expressed in both external and internal chemosensory neurons as molecular receptors necessary for cellular and appetitive behavioral responses to ribonucleosides and RNA. Specifically, behavioral preference assays show that larvae are strongly attracted to ribose- or RNA-containing agarose in a Gr28-dependent manner. Moreover, Ca2+ imaging experiments reveal that Gr28a-expressing taste neurons are activated by ribose, RNA and some ribonucleosides and that these responses can be conveyed to Gr43aGAL4 fructose-sensing neurons by expressing single members of the Gr28 gene family. Lastly, we establish a critical role in behavioral fitness for the Gr28 genes by showing that Gr28 mutant larvae exhibit low survival rates when challenged to find ribonucleosides in food. Together, our work identifies a novel taste modality dedicated to the detection of RNA and ribonucleosides, nutrients that are essential for survival during the accelerated growth phase of Drosophila larvae.
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