starvation induction and assessment of sugar-influence on the foraging behavior in male drosophila flies

Analysis of Sugar-Induced Foraging Behavior in &lt;i&gt;Drosophila&lt;/i&gt;

Food-seeking and foraging behavior is a fundamental survival strategy exhibited by organisms across taxa. Two types of foraging behaviors have been identified in insects: hunger-induced search for food and post-meal local search1. When hungry, insects rely on sensory cues to locate food sources. Upon encountering and consuming a small food patch, they initiate a local search behavior characterized by convoluted paths and circling around the food location.
Sugar-elicited search behavior, a particular form of local search, was first studied over 60 years ago, by American biologist Vincent Dethier in blowflies2. When starved, flies are presented with a small amount of sugar such that it does not satiate them, they begin a local search. Typical search behavior is characterized by a highly tortuous walk with low locomotory and high turning rate and making returns to the location of the sugar drop. Subsequent studies had investigated this behavior in house flies and fruit flies3,4. The initiation, intensity, and duration of the search is regulated by the internal state of the animal (e.g., deprivation and motivation) as well as external factors such as resource availability and quality1,5,6.
Advancements in tracking technologies have provided researchers with valuable tools to capture and analyze behavior within controlled arenas. Here, we present a behavioral paradigm for tracking freely walking flies after sugar ingestion. This simple setup enables the study of sugar-elicited search behavior in Drosophila by capturing and analyzing the fly&#39;s motion in response to concentrated sugar solution provided in an arena. Employing advanced tracking technology and data analysis techniques, the locomotor patterns, spatial exploration, and response dynamics to sugar stimuli have been successfully quantified.
Using this assay, it has been experimentally demonstrated that the sugar-elicited search involves the use of path integration and can be spatially-temporally separated from sugar intake7,8. Furthermore, it has been shown that the behavior can be triggered by the activation of pharyngeal taste neurons9. Recent results show that sugar stimulus is not an innate releasing mechanism but also modulatory, and controls the initiation of the behavior temporally8. Using this paradigm, we have also studied this behavior in honey bees (Apis mellifera)7,8.
The eventual aim of this research is to unravel neural circuits and novel genetic components involved in regulating search behavior through targeted genetic manipulations and neuroimaging techniques. Food search behaviors have proven to be highly effective experimental paradigms for studying navigation and spatial memory in insects. These behaviors provide a unique opportunity to investigate the sensory perception, decision-making processes, and motor coordination involved in the search for rewarding food sources in flies. Additionally, the findings from these studies have broader implications for understanding feeding behaviors in other organisms, including humans, as many fundamental genetic and neural mechanisms are evolutionarily conserved. Dysregulation of feeding behaviors is associated with various neurological and metabolic disorders10. Therefore, the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying search behavior in flies may offer new avenues for understanding and potentially addressing these complex human health challenges.

Author Spotlight: Exploring Behavioral Pathways Through Cross-Species Insights in Foraging and Communication

Tracking Sugar-Elicited Local Searching Behavior in Drosophila

Our study employs Drosophila as a genetic model to identify key stimulus input pathways in certain behavior. This approach aims to reveal the neural networks triggering local search behavior, enhancing understanding beyond what's known in honeybees and ants, potentially applying to humans. Drosophila is a powerful genetic model system understanding foraging behavior in flies led to the identification of novel circuits that were not known earlier in any other model system.Not only neurons, our internal state act on these circuits to regulate physiology and behavior has been studied recently. Our research explores the potential evolutionary link between fly local search and honeybee dance communication as hypothesized by Vincent Dethier. We found similarities between the two behavior, indicating shared neural and molecular mechanisms.This suggests that Drosophila could be used as a model system to study honeybee dance. In combination with molecular manipulation and imaging, this paradigm presents a powerful and promising approach. Our protocol does not involve any expensive materials and can be custom made in the lab.It's easy and efficient to compare many parameters using user friendly software that generates reproducible and robust take. Our study focuses on identifying brain circuits that intersect various behavioral pathways in foraging, including feeding, sleep regulation, and decision making. These are conserved across species, and we are investigating how these brain structures interact and regulate multiple behaviors simultaneously.

Starvation Induction and Assessment of Sugar-Influence on the Foraging Behavior in Male Drosophila Flies

To begin, collect adult male Drosophila flies within 12 hours from emerging. Place them on standard fly media for 48 hours at 25 degrees Celsius. Starve the flies of food, but retain their access to water.To calculate the food starvation of two day old flies, place 15 to 20 flies in a vial with soaked tissue paper at the bottom. Transfer the starved flies individually into small tubes. Place the tubes near the illuminated arena, surrounded by a white polyvinyl chloride pipe.Use the camera software to focus on the arena. Place about two microliters of sugar solution in the arena center. Now, slowly invert the micro centrifuge tube with a single fly over the sugar drop.Film the 2D position of the arena with an overhead camera. Finally, analyze the trajectory of each fly to determine its search behavior. Sugar intake in starved flies led to a local search with a meandering path and loops.The unfed flies, however, did not initiate a search, but instead, escaped the arena. The parameters of search, that is path length, stay time, meander, and number of returns were significantly lower in the unfed flies.

starvation-induction-assessment-sugar-influence-on-foraging-behavior

Research

JoVE Journal

Behavior

Foraging behavior is essential for the survival of organisms as it enables them to locate and acquire essential food resources. In Drosophila, hunger triggers a distinct search behavior following the consumption of small quantities of a sugar solution. This report presents a simple experimental setup to study sugar-elicited search behavior with the aim of uncovering the underlying mechanisms. Minute quantities of concentrated sugar solution elicit sustained searching behavior in flies. The involvement of path integration in this behavior has been established, as flies utilize their trajectory to return to the sugar location. The most recent findings provide evidence of temporal modulation in the initiation and intensity of the search behavior after sugar intake. We have also used this setup for artificial activation of specific taste-receptor neurons in the pharynx, which elicits the search behavior. The Drosophila neurogenetic toolkit offers a diverse array of tools and techniques that can be combined with the sugar-elicited search behavior paradigm to study the neural and genetic mechanisms underlying foraging. Understanding the neural basis of hunger-driven searching behavior in flies contributes to the field of neurobiology as a whole, offering insights into the regulatory mechanisms that govern feeding behaviors not only in other organisms but also in humans.

This protocol describes a behavioral assay for recording sugar-elicited search behavior using Drosophila melanogaster. The assay can be utilized to study feeding and foraging-related behaviors, as well as the underlying neuronal mechanisms.

Foraging behavior is essential for the survival of organisms as it enables them to locate and acquire essential food resources. In Drosophila, hunger ...