Understanding Taste Using <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em>

Taste is a short-range contact chemosensation required by all animals to detect nutrient rich foods and avoid consuming toxic chemicals. In insects, it is also required to select mates and appropriate oviposition sites. Organization of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster taste system and availability of experimental tool box, makes Drosophila gustatory system an ideal model system for studying the perception of taste and taste elicited behaviors. Like humans, fruit flies also respond to wide range of taste chemical and can differentiate between different taste categories including sweet, bitter, sour, umami and salt. This chapter will present a research progress made in the field of taste using neuroanatomical, genetic, behavioral, molecular and cellular biology techniques in the fruit fly. The compiled survey will provide an outlook of taste research done in fruit fly and its comparison with human taste behavior