The labellar sugar receptor ofDrosophila

Abstract

1. The electrophysiology of the sugar receptor in labellar taste hairs ofDrosophila melanogaster (Diptera) was investigated using 33 monosaccharides, oligosaccharides, glucosides, and amino acids which in calyptrate flies are known to bind to specific receptor sites or which may be assigned to specific receptor sites on the basis of structural criteria. 2. The pyranose site ofDrosophila is very similar to the pyranose site of the calyptrate flies: regarding monosaccharides of the pyranose type three adjacent equatorial hydroxyl groups (C-2, C-3, C-4) seem to be important for stimulating effectiveness. On the other hand, it exhibits a more rigid stereospecificity with regard to the substituents at C-1 and C-5. 3. A furanose site as in calyptrate flies does not exist inDrosophila. First, D-galactose, phenylalanine and 2,5-anhydro-D-mannitol are not or nearly not stimulatory. Secondly, according to different sugar receptor responses after treatment of the taste hairs with papain, D-fucose binds to another receptor site than D-fructose. Thirdly, the effective conformation of D-fructose is not the furanose, but most probably the pyranose form as can be concluded from experiments with freshly prepared and equilibrium solutions of D-fructose. 4. The characteristic differences between the properties of the sugar receptors ofDrosophila and of the calyptrate flies lead to the suggestion that the actual number of types of receptor sites in the various fly species is greater than assumed up till now. The broad specificity of the sugar receptors of flies may therefore result from a mosaic of different types of highly specific receptor sites.