Journal
NEUROCHEMISTRY INTERNATIONAL
Volume 51, Issue 2-4, Pages 132-139Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuint.2007.05.020
Keywords
odorant; olfactory receptor; olfaction
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Olfactory receptors (ORs) comprise the largest multigene G protein-coupled receptor families in organisms from fish to primates, and play a critical role in recognizing thousands of odorant molecules. Recent achievement of functional OR expression in heterologous cells led to identification of ligands for some ORs, revealing a combinatorial receptor coding scheme in the olfactory sensory system. Using the functional assay, the odorant-binding site in ORs has been elucidated, showing that a binding pocket constructed by transmembrane helices provides the molecular basis for agonist and antagonist specificity. To retrospectively identify ORs that recognize a particular odorant of interest, two functional cloning strategies have been developed: one is a strategy wherein OR genes are amplified from single olfactory neurons that show odorant responsiveness in Ca2+ imaging, and another is an approach based on glomerular activity by combining in vivo bulbar Ca2+ imaging and retrograde dye labeling of innervating olfactory neurons. The conventional ligand-screening approach and the functional cloning strategies in an odorant-directed manner have allowed us to match ORs to the cognate odorants both in vitro and in vivo. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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