Sensory neurons for sweet tastes suppress those for bitter tastes

In science news.

The story of taste especially that of sweetness as well as bitterness begin in the brain with intriguing power dynamics.

Cha Yun-kyung explains.

As fruit flies are often used as experimental models, researchers created genetically engineered fruit flies that are vitalized when their sensory neurons are activated.

When their sensory neurons for sweet tastes were activated they suppressed the sensory neurons for bitter tastes.

On the other hand, when sensory neurons for bitter tastes were activated, those for sweet tastes were not suppressed.

This is because sensory neurons for sweet tastes can control those for bitter tastes.

"When sensory neurons for sweet tastes are activated, those for bitter tastes are suppressed due to the electric field from the sweet activated sensory neurons. As a result, when there are bitter and sweet tastes at the same time, the bitter tastes are eliminated "

The researchers explained that this principle could be the reason why black coffee tastes bitter while coffee mixtures with sugar taste less bitter or fruit juices taste less sour.

As the mechanism of the suppression interaction among sensory neurons for taste has been uncovered from fruit fly experiments, researchers expect that this will help with experiments on sensory neurons of different species, including animals and eventually people.

Cha Yun-kyung, Arirang News.