Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons inDrosophila

• DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.06.636883
• Publication Date: 2025-02-07T04:50:53Z
• Authors: Christian Arntsen; Jake Grenon; Isabelle Chauvel; Stéphane Fraichard; Stéphane Dupas; Jérôme Cortot; Kayla Audette; Pierre-Yves Musso; Molly Stanley
• Keywords: Sweet Taste; Bitter Taste

ABSTRACT Artificial sweeteners are highly sweet, non-nutritive compounds that have become increasingly popular over recent decades despite research suggesting their consumption has unintended consequences. Specifically, there is evidence some of these chemicals interact with bitter taste receptors, implying likely generate complex chemosensory signals. Here, we report the basic sensory characteristics in Drosophila , a common model system used to study impacts diet, and find all noncaloric inhibited appetitive feeding responses at higher concentrations. At cellular level, found sucralose rebaudioside A co-activated sweet gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs), two populations reciprocally impact behavior, while aspartame only activated cells. We assessed behavioral co-activation low concentrations signal high aversion. Finally, silencing GRNs reduced aversive elicited by significantly increased behaviors. Together, conclude artificial more than “sweetness” alone, this behaviorally relevant effects on may help flies flexibly respond unique compounds.