BEHAVIORAL AND ELECTRICAL RESPONSES TO SUGARS IN DROSOPHILA MELANOGASTER

Abstract

A simple method for the measurement of the behavioral responses of Drosophila melanogaster to the various sugars and a method for recording nerve responses from a single chemosensory hair were described and the results were analyzed. The fly showed preference for maltose, sucrose, glucose, fructose, xylose, lactose, mannose and galactose, especially for the former four sugars, in the preference-aversion test between sugar and water. Electrophysiological responses from a labellar hair by stimulation of those sugars showed that the labellar hair examined was sensitive to maltose, sucrose, glucose and fructose, giving a series of spikes different from those initiated by NaCl and water. The magnitude of nerve responses to these four sugars was arranged in the order of the maximal number of impulses from high to low as follows: maltose, sucrose, glucose and fructose. The labellar hair examined was insensitive to xylose, lactose, mannose and galactose.