Since OA is known to modulate different kinds of sensory receptors in insects Pophof 2000RAMIREZ 1990Kass 1988, we tested a potential role of OA on gustatory receptor sensitivity. We recorded the response of labellar sensilla to 100 mM
sucrose in fed and starved flies by the tip-recording method Hiroi 2002HODGSON 1955. The
wild type strain serving as a control for our mutant does not show the increase of spiking rate after
starvation (Fig. 5A), which we see in other wild type strains (Fig. 5B) as previously reported Inagaki 2012Nishimura 2012Meunier 2007; and we found a decreased
sensillar response to sucrose stimulation after starvation in tßhnM18 mutants, compared to wild type controls (Fig. 5A, Wilcoxon rank sum
test, p < 0.05).