Abstract

The over-consumption of sweet, energy-dense foods is directly linked to the development of a plethora of health complications, including obesity and type two diabetes – both of which have been on the rise in recent decades as the presence of these food types becomes more ubiquitous in our daily lives. Understanding how and why food choices are made will be valuable in mitigating these risks. Decision making around dietary choices is a complex process, however, weighing not only current general caloric need, but also need for different compositions of macronutrients as well as motivations that are entirely independent from internal energy or nutrient stores altogether. The aim of this project is to identify the neural circuits and signaling pathways in the brain that drive sugar-specific feeding behavior. Using fruit flies, two different sugar feeding motivators will be dissected and disentangled. First, the neural substrates of homeostatic (need-dependent) sugar feeding drive that results from dietary sugar deprivation. Second, need-independent sugar feeding drive in the context of social cues and known reward circuitry will be addressed. By combining these findings with what we already know about general hunger and protein-specific hunger, it is the ultimate goal of this project to create a holistic, comprehensive model for how dietary choices are made.