Cloning and expression of odorant receptors.
Myriads of odorous molecules that vary widely in structure are nevertheless readily detected and discriminated by the sense of smell, but how this is achieved by the olfactory system has been a long-standing puzzle. Several different models have been proposed, and previous observations indicate that the recognition sites for odorous molecules could be G-protein-coupled receptor proteins, an idea supported by the discovery of a new gene family that probably encodes a diversity of odorant receptors. Here we report the identification of new members of the gene family encoding putative odorant receptors and demonstrate that they are indeed transcribed in olfactory receptor neurons. Furthermore, the receptor-encoding complementary DNA is expressed in non-neuronal surrogate cells, which generate second messenger responses upon stimulation with appropriate odorants, indicating that the receptors recognize odorants and couple to G proteins of the host cells.
Raming
K
K
University Stuttgart-Hohenheim, Institute of Zoophysiology, Germany.
Krieger
J
J
Strotmann
J
J
Boekhoff
I
I
Kubick
S
S
Baumstark
C
C
Breer
H
H
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D016367:Baculoviridae / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D002460:Cell Line; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004848:Epithelium / Q000502:physiology; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D007313:Insecta; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009812:Odorants; D009831:Olfactory Mucosa / Q000502:physiology*; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011061:Poly A / Q000235:genetics; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D051381:Rats; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015290:Second Messenger Systems; D011984:Sensory Receptor Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014162:Transfection
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C045648:odorant-binding protein; D011061:Poly A; D012313:RNA; D004247:DNA; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins