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Feeding behaviour

The basics of base sensing

Nature Metabolism volume 5, pages 364–365 (2023)Cite this article

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Animals need to be able to evaluate environmental pH. Mechanisms that mediate sour taste and acid sensing have been reported across species, but less is known about the detection of high pH. Mi et al. identify the gene alkaliphile, which encodes a high-pH-gated chloride channel in the gustatory system of flies.

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Fig. 1: Basic internal and external sensors in model organisms and humans.

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  1. Department of Neuroscience, The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation & Technology, Jupiter, FL, USA

    Scarlet J. Park & William W. Ja

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  1. Scarlet J. Park
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  2. William W. Ja
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Correspondence to William W. Ja.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Park, S.J., Ja, W.W. The basics of base sensing. Nat Metab 5, 364–365 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42255-023-00763-5

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