It's undeniable that people in our department are coffee lovers. They even bought from their own pockets a coffee machine and an espresso maker. They also brought a variety of coffee beans from Batangas to Benguet. Every day, we brew countless of times to satiate our caffeine-induced bodies and yes, to battle that ever dreadful office sleepiness.
So needless to say, the remnants of these bitter beans piled up only to attract our dear army of fruit flies.
One Monday, fruit flies were swarming from one table to another. We're, of course, distracted and annoyed. That time, we didn't have a clue that it's because of our beloved coffee. Days passed and we realized that they were attracted to caffeine.
What's baffling is that coffee is not sweet and still, these fruit flies got attracted and maybe, addicted (?).
Through the help of the Internet, it's as easy and fast as a blink of an eye to know the answer on this mystery.
"In their hunt for genes and proteins that explain how animals discern bitter from sweet, a team of Johns Hopkins researchers began by testing whether mutant fruit flies prefer eating sugar over sugar laced with caffeine. Using a simple behavioral test, the researchers discovered that a single protein missing from the fly-equivalent of our taste buds caused them to ignore caffeine's taste and consume the caffeine as if it were not there."
It seemed that mutant fruitflies cannot discern caffeine's bitterness. They are called mutant because they lack a specific taste-receptor protein called Gr66a. With the absence of this protein, they eat caffeine and other bitter-tasting food as if these are sweet treats!
You may read this post to know more about the Hopskin flies.
Meanwhile, I'm going to drink some more coffee to survive the last work day of the week.