TY - JOUR TI - Taste quality and hunger interactions in a feeding sensorimotor circuit AU - Shiu, Philip K AU - Sterne, Gabriella R AU - Engert, Stefanie AU - Dickson, Barry J AU - Scott, Kristin A2 - Grunwald Kadow, Ilona C A2 - VijayRaghavan, K A2 - Sprecher, Simon G VL - 11 PY - 2022 DA - 2022/07/06 SP - e79887 C1 - eLife 2022;11:e79887 DO - 10.7554/eLife.79887 UR - https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.79887 AB - Taste detection and hunger state dynamically regulate the decision to initiate feeding. To study how context-appropriate feeding decisions are generated, we combined synaptic resolution circuit reconstruction with targeted genetic access to specific neurons to elucidate a gustatory sensorimotor circuit for feeding initiation in adult Drosophila melanogaster. This circuit connects gustatory sensory neurons to proboscis motor neurons through three intermediate layers. Most neurons in this pathway are necessary and sufficient for proboscis extension, a feeding initiation behavior, and respond selectively to sugar taste detection. Pathway activity is amplified by hunger signals that act at select second-order neurons to promote feeding initiation in food-deprived animals. In contrast, the feeding initiation circuit is inhibited by a bitter taste pathway that impinges on premotor neurons, illuminating a local motif that weighs sugar and bitter taste detection to adjust the behavioral outcomes. Together, these studies reveal central mechanisms for the integration of external taste detection and internal nutritive state to flexibly execute a critical feeding decision. KW - gustatory KW - taste KW - feeding KW - circuits KW - sensorimotor JF - eLife SN - 2050-084X PB - eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd ER -