1. Academic Validation
  2. Fat- and sugar-induced signals regulate sweet and fat taste perception in Drosophila

Fat- and sugar-induced signals regulate sweet and fat taste perception in Drosophila

  • Cell Rep. 2023 Nov 6;42(11):113387. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2023.113387.
Yunpo Zhao 1 Emilia Johansson 1 Jianli Duan 1 Zhe Han 2 Mattias Alenius 3
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden.
  • 2 Center for Precision Disease Modeling, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
  • 3 Department of Molecular Biology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. Electronic address: mattias.alenius@umu.se.
Abstract

In this study, we investigate the interplay between taste perception and macronutrients. While sugar's and protein's self-regulation of taste perception is known, the role of fat remains unclear. We reveal that in Drosophila, fat overconsumption reduces fatty acid taste in favor of sweet perception. Conversely, sugar intake increases fatty acid perception and suppresses sweet taste. Genetic investigations show that the sugar signal, gut-secreted Hedgehog, suppresses sugar taste and enhances fatty acid perception. Fat overconsumption induces unpaired 2 (Upd2) secretion from adipose tissue to the hemolymph. We reveal taste neurons take up Upd2, which triggers Domeless suppression of fatty acid perception. We further show that the downstream JAK/STAT signaling enhances sweet perception and, via Socs36E, fine-tunes Domeless activity and the fatty acid taste perception. Together, our results show that sugar regulates Hedgehog signaling and fat induces Upd2 signaling to balance nutrient intake and to regulate sweet and fat taste perception.

Keywords

CP: Metabolism; CP: Neuroscience; Dome; Drosophila; Et; Hedgehog signaling; Socs36E; Upd2 signaling; fat; hemolymph; sugar; taste.

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