The Tarsal Taste of Honey Bees: Behavioral and Electrophysiological Analyses
ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE published: 04 February 2014 BEHAVIORAL NEUROSCIENCE doi: 10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00025 The tarsal taste of honey bees: behavioral and electrophysiological analyses Maria Gabriela de Brito Sanchez 1,2*, Esther Lorenzo 1,2, Songkun Su 3, Fanglin Liu 4,YiZhan3 and Martin Giurfa 1,2 1 Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Research Center on Animal Cognition (UMR5169), Toulouse, France 2 University Paul-Sabatier, Research Center on Animal Cognition (UMR5169), Toulouse, France 3 College of Animal Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China 4 Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China Edited by: Taste plays a crucial role in the life of honey bees as their survival depends on the Carmen Sandi, Ecole Polytechnique collection and intake of nectar and pollen, and other natural products. Here we studied Federale De Lausanne, Switzerland the tarsal taste of honey bees through a series of behavioral and electrophysiological Reviewed by: analyses. We characterized responsiveness to various sweet, salty and bitter tastants Judith Reinhard, University of Queensland, Australia delivered to gustatory sensilla of the fore tarsi. Behavioral experiments showed that Fernando J. Guerrieri, Univesité stimulation of opposite fore tarsi with sucrose and bitter substances or water yielded François Rabelais Tours, France different outcomes depending on the stimulation sequence. When sucrose was applied *Correspondence: first, thereby eliciting proboscis extension, no bitter substance could induce proboscis Maria Gabriela de Brito Sanchez, retraction, thus suggesting that the primacy of sucrose stimulation induced a central Centre de Recherches sur la Cognition Animale, Building 4R3, excitatory state. When bitter substances or water were applied first, sucrose stimulation Université de Toulouse, 31062 could still elicit proboscis extension but to a lower level, thus suggesting central inhibition Toulouse Cedex 9, France based on contradictory gustatory input on opposite tarsi.
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