Work

Nutritional regulation of metabolism-dependent and-independent glucosensing in the mammalian taste system

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Dietary glucose is a preferred source of energy, but it remains unknown how the mammalian brain rapidly detects and discriminates this sugar from other sweeteners, and whether this depends on nutritional environment and metabolic need. Our results show that signals generated by metabolism-dependent and -independent actions of oral glucose can each be recruited to guide nutrient choice. Further, glucose (or its non-metabolizable analog) evokes a discernible pattern of neural activity from calorie-matched fructose in the central gustatory system, and this is conditioned by diet. Although the brain responses and corresponding consummatory behaviors do not require sweet taste receptor input, the results indicate that the sweet receptor is important for integrating nutritional states with metabolic pathways in the taste system and ultimately guiding intake towards glucose-yielding substrates. • Neurons in the central taste system can differentially encode glucose and fructose. • Glucose engages metabolism-dependent and -independent signaling in the taste cells to guide nutrient preference. • Sweet receptor signaling plays a critical role in regulating glucokinase-linked metabolism-dependent, but not metabolism-independent, glucosensing in taste cells. • Dietary sugar fundamentally reprograms the taste bud to facilitate glucose detection via multiple parallel mechanisms.

Source: Molecular Metabolism

DOI: 10.1016/j.molmet.2025.102280