The chemical senses-smell and taste-allow animals to evaluate and distinguish valuable food resources from dangerous substances in the environment. The central mechanisms by which the brain recognizes and discriminates attractive and repulsive odorants and tastants, and makes behavioral decisions accordingly, are not well understood in any organism. Recent molecular and neuroanatomical advances in Drosophila have produced a nearly complete picture of the peripheral neuroanatomy and function of smell and taste in this insect. Neurophysiological experiments have begun to provide insight into the mechanisms by which these animals process chemosensory cues. Given the considerable anatomical and functional homology in smell and taste pathways in all higher animals, experimental approaches in Drosophila will likely provide broad insights into the problem of sensory coding. Here we provide a critical review of the recent literature in this field and comment on likely future directions.

中文翻译：

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果蝇气味和味道的分子结构。

化学嗅觉和味道允许的动物可以评估和区分宝贵的食物资源与环境中的有害物质。在任何生物体中，大脑识别和区分有吸引力的和排斥性的气味和味觉物质并据此做出行为决定的主要机制尚不清楚。果蝇在分子和神经解剖学方面的最新进展已为该昆虫的外周神经解剖学以及嗅觉和味觉功能提供了近乎完整的图像。神经生理学实验已经开始提供对这些动物处理化学感觉线索的机制的见识。鉴于所有高级动物在嗅觉和味觉途径上的解剖学和功能同源性都很高，果蝇中的实验方法将可能为感觉编码问题提供广泛的见解。在这里，我们对这一领域的最新文献进行了批判性评论，并对可能的未来方向进行了评论。