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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Ashwin Miriyala, Sebastien Kessler, Dr Claire RindORCiD, Professor Geraldine Wright
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Animals detect changes in the environment using modality-specific, peripheral sensory neurons. The insect gustatory system encodes tastant identity and concentration through the independent firing of gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) that spike rapidly at stimulus onset and quickly adapt. Here, we show the first evidence that concentrated sugar evokes a temporally structured burst pattern of spiking involving two GRNs within the gustatory sensilla of bumblebees. Bursts of spikes resulted when a sucrose-activated GRN was inhibited by another GRN at a frequency of ∼22 Hz during the first 1 s of stimulation. Pharmacological blockade of gap junctions abolished bursting, indicating that bee GRNs have electrical synapses that produce a temporal pattern of spikes when one GRN is activated by a sugar ligand. Bursting permitted bee GRNs to maintain a high rate of spiking and to exhibit the slowest rate of adaptation of any insect species. Feeding bout duration correlated with coherent bursting; only sugar concentrations that produced bursting evoked the bumblebee's feeding reflex. Volume of solution imbibed was a direct function of time in contact with food. We propose that gap junctions among GRNs enable a sustained rate of GRN spiking that is necessary to drive continuous feeding by the bee proboscis. Miriyala et al. discover that galeal sensilla on the bumblebee's proboscis (mouthparts) have two gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs) that exhibit bursts of spikes in response to stimulation with sucrose. Bursting in these neurons depends on sugar value, is facilitated by gap junctions, and permits these neurons to resist sensory adaptation.
Author(s): Miriyala A, Kessler S, Rind FC, Wright GA
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Current Biology
Year: 2018
Volume: 28
Issue: 10
Pages: 1585-1594.e3
Print publication date: 21/05/2018
Online publication date: 10/05/2018
Acceptance date: 29/03/2018
Date deposited: 27/03/2018
ISSN (print): 0960-9822
ISSN (electronic): 1879-0445
Publisher: Cell Press
URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.070
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.070
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