Extended Data Fig. 3: Bitter compound suppression of sucrose response.
From: Mosquito taste responses to human and floral cues guide biting and feeding
a, Schematic of two-choice feeding assay. Created with Biorender.com. b, Feeding preference of non-blood-fed females given a choice between 100 mM sucrose alone versus water. Feeding preference index greater than zero indicates preference for sucrose over water. One sample t test (two-tailed) compared to 0. Asterisks indicate significant differences from preference index of 0, n = 7 trials, 20 mosquitoes/trial. ****p = <0.0001. c, % of fed mosquitoes in two-choice feeding assay in Extended Data Fig. 3b. n = 7 trials, 20 mosquitoes/trial. d-g, Mean responses of each sensillum to sucrose is suppressed in a dose-dependent manner by denatonium benzoate (DEN), n = 4–11 biologically independent experiments (d), quinine (QUI), n = 5–19 biologically independent experiments (e), and berberine chloride, n = 6–19 biologically independent experiments (f), but not by caffeine (CAF), n = 6–19 biologically independent experiments (g). Sucrose response in the absence of bitter compound recovers after the exposure to bitter compounds, indicating that the lack of firing is not due to severe toxicity. Each set of bar graphs is in the following order: S1, S2, S3, S4, I1, I2, I3, I4, I5, I6, L1, L2, L3, L4, and L5 sensilla, from left to right. The control firing rate observed with TCC solvent alone is subtracted from the responses in each panel. The sucrose only data plotted in e, f, and g are repeated. h, % of fed mosquitoes in two-choice feeding assay in Main Fig. 3c. None differed from the control value. n = 6–18 trials, 20 mosquitoes/trial. Ordinary one-way ANOVA. Error bars are ±SEM.
