Gustatory avoidance of fatty acids by <em>Aedes aegypti</em> depends on an arthropod-specific TRP channel

Mosquito-disease vectors, such as Aedes aegypti, use their sense of taste before deciding whether to consume a blood meal, or fly away. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling gustatory decisions in mosquitoes are largely unknown. The TRP channel, Painless1 (Pain1), is an intriguing candidate for participating in Ae. aegypti taste since pain1 transcripts are detected in gustatory receptor neurons (GRNs). The Drosophila homolog, painless (pain) is also expressed in GRNs, where it is required for sensing allyl-isothiocyanate. Here, to identify additional gustatory roles for pain homologs, we first focused on Drosophila pain, which is widely expressed in multiple GRNs classes. We demonstrated that pain mutations eliminated gustatory attraction to low fatty acids levels, repulsion to high levels, and fatty acid-induced action potentials. The attraction and repulsion depended on pain expression in different GRN classes. In contrast to Drosophila, when Aedes contacts fatty acids, they i..., Data were generated using established behavioral, electrophysiological, molecular, and imaging approaches in&nbsp;Drosophila melanogaster&nbsp;and&nbsp;Aedes aegypti, as described in detail in the associated article. Proboscis extension response (PER) assays were performed by stimulating the labella or tarsi with sucrose alone or sucrose mixed with fatty acids or other tastants, and scoring feeding responses. Electrophysiological recordings were obtained using extracellular tip-recording techniques from individual labellar taste sensilla following chemical stimulation, and action potential frequencies were quantified over defined analysis windows. Gene expression was assessed using RT-PCR and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR), with ribosomal protein genes used as internal controls. Confocal microscopy was used to image gustatory receptor neuron populations following immunohistochemistry or reporter expression, and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize labellar ..., # Gustatory avoidance of fatty acids by *Aedes aegypti* depends on an arthropod-specific TRP channel Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.qrfj6q5ww](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.qrfj6q5ww) ## Description of the data and file structure These data support the manuscript entitled “Gustatory avoidance of fatty acids by *Aedes aegypti* depends on an arthropod-specific TRP channel.” The dataset consists of two compressed folders, Raw_Data.zip and Source_Data.zip, which together contain the raw and processed data underlying the figures and supplementary figures presented in the manuscript.\ \ The deposited data include the raw data corresponding specifically to the images, traces, and gels displayed in the manuscript, as well as the full quantitative source data used for statistical analyses and figure generation. Only raw data corresponding to the representative images, traces, and gels shown in the figures are deposited; raw data from additional experimental replicates generated during the study ...,