title: A multigene family encoding a diverse array of putative pheromone receptors in mammals.
abstract: The vomeronasal organ of mammals is an olfactory sensory structure that detects pheromones. It contains two subsets of sensory neurons that differentially express G alpha(o) and G alpha(i2). By comparing gene expression in single neurons, we identified a novel multigene family that codes for a diverse array of candidate pheromone receptors (VRs) expressed by the G alpha(o)+ subset. Different VRs are expressed by different neurons, but those neurons are interspersed, suggesting a distributed mode of sensory coding. Chromosome mapping experiments suggest an evolutionary connection between genes encoding VRs and receptors for volatile odorants. However, a dramatically different structure for VRs and the existence of variant VR mRNA forms indicate that there are diverse strategies to detect functionally distinct sensory stimuli.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Matsunami
authors.forename: L B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Buck
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002628:Chemoreceptor Cells; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D051960:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunit, Gi2; D044385:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits; D019206:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008040:Genetic Linkage; D020962:Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000737:chemistry; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019147:Vomeronasal Organ / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D044385:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C084618:olfactory G protein subunit alpha olf; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D051960:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunit, Gi2; D019206:GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go; C498016:Gnai2 protein, mouse; D020962:Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins