Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila
Abstract Artificial sweeteners are highly sweet, non-nutritive compounds that have become increasingly popular over recent decades despite research suggesting that their consumption has unintended consequences. Specifically, there is evidence suggesting that some of these chemicals interact with bit...
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Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08467-4 |
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| author | Christian Arntsen Jake Grenon Isabelle Chauvel Stéphane Fraichard Stéphane Dupas Jérôme Cortot Kayla Audette Pierre-Yves Musso Molly Stanley |
| author_facet | Christian Arntsen Jake Grenon Isabelle Chauvel Stéphane Fraichard Stéphane Dupas Jérôme Cortot Kayla Audette Pierre-Yves Musso Molly Stanley |
| author_sort | Christian Arntsen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Artificial sweeteners are highly sweet, non-nutritive compounds that have become increasingly popular over recent decades despite research suggesting that their consumption has unintended consequences. Specifically, there is evidence suggesting that some of these chemicals interact with bitter taste receptors, implying that sweeteners likely generate complex chemosensory signals. Here, we report the basic sensory characteristics of sweeteners in Drosophila, a common model system used to study the impacts of diet, and find that all noncaloric sweeteners inhibited appetitive feeding responses at higher concentrations. At a cellular level, we found that sucralose and rebaudioside A co-activated sweet and bitter gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs), two populations that reciprocally impact feeding behavior, while aspartame only activated bitter cells. We assessed the behavioral impacts of sweet and bitter co-activation and found that low concentrations of sucralose signal appetitive feeding while high concentrations signal feeding aversion. Finally, silencing bitter GRNs reduced the aversive signal elicited by high concentrations of sucralose and significantly increased sucralose feeding behaviors. Together, we conclude that artificial sweeteners generate a gustatory signal that is more complex than “sweetness” alone, and this bitter co-activation has behaviorally relevant effects on feeding that may help flies flexibly respond to these unique compounds. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-37ada7b85bae4f2da54f20bff303683a |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-07-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj-art-37ada7b85bae4f2da54f20bff303683a2025-08-20T03:03:42ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-07-0115111510.1038/s41598-025-08467-4Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in DrosophilaChristian Arntsen0Jake Grenon1Isabelle Chauvel2Stéphane Fraichard3Stéphane Dupas4Jérôme Cortot5Kayla Audette6Pierre-Yves Musso7Molly Stanley8Department of Biology, University of VermontDepartment of Biology, University of VermontCentre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAe, Université Bourgogne EuropeCentre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAe, Université Bourgogne EuropeCentre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAe, Université Bourgogne EuropeCentre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAe, Université Bourgogne EuropeDepartment of Biology, University of VermontCentre des Sciences du Gout et de l’Alimentation, AgroSup Dijon, CNRS, INRAe, Université Bourgogne EuropeDepartment of Biology, University of VermontAbstract Artificial sweeteners are highly sweet, non-nutritive compounds that have become increasingly popular over recent decades despite research suggesting that their consumption has unintended consequences. Specifically, there is evidence suggesting that some of these chemicals interact with bitter taste receptors, implying that sweeteners likely generate complex chemosensory signals. Here, we report the basic sensory characteristics of sweeteners in Drosophila, a common model system used to study the impacts of diet, and find that all noncaloric sweeteners inhibited appetitive feeding responses at higher concentrations. At a cellular level, we found that sucralose and rebaudioside A co-activated sweet and bitter gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs), two populations that reciprocally impact feeding behavior, while aspartame only activated bitter cells. We assessed the behavioral impacts of sweet and bitter co-activation and found that low concentrations of sucralose signal appetitive feeding while high concentrations signal feeding aversion. Finally, silencing bitter GRNs reduced the aversive signal elicited by high concentrations of sucralose and significantly increased sucralose feeding behaviors. Together, we conclude that artificial sweeteners generate a gustatory signal that is more complex than “sweetness” alone, and this bitter co-activation has behaviorally relevant effects on feeding that may help flies flexibly respond to these unique compounds.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08467-4 |
| spellingShingle | Christian Arntsen Jake Grenon Isabelle Chauvel Stéphane Fraichard Stéphane Dupas Jérôme Cortot Kayla Audette Pierre-Yves Musso Molly Stanley Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila Scientific Reports |
| title | Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila |
| title_full | Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila |
| title_fullStr | Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila |
| title_full_unstemmed | Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila |
| title_short | Artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in Drosophila |
| title_sort | artificial sweeteners differentially activate sweet and bitter gustatory neurons in drosophila |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-08467-4 |
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