Light-sensitive proteins at the tip of this fly’s proboscis allow it to sense bitter tastes. By Mitch LeslieLike many animals, you couldn’t see without proteins called opsins, which dwell in the light-sensitive cells of your eyes.
A new study reveals for the first time that fruit flies can also use some of these proteins, nestled at the tip of their nose, to taste noxious molecules in their food.
Opsins in our bodies could also serve the same function, researchers speculate.The results are “paradigm shifting,” says sensory biologist Phyllis Robinson of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who wasn’t connected to the research.The most famous opsin forms the backbone of rhodopsin, the pigment in eye cells known as rods that allow you