A multigene family encoding a diverse array of putative pheromone receptors in mammals.
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.
Matsunami
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Buck
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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
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