title: Cloning of an olfactory sensory neuron-specific protein in the land snail (Eobania vermiculata).
abstract: We have isolated a gene encoding for an olfactory sensory neuron (OSN)-specific protein in an invertebrate, the land snail Eobania vermiculata (GenBank accession number AY147909). Using in situ hybridization, we detected expression of its mRNA in the dendrite, cell body and axon of OSNs. By neural tracing, using the lipophilic tracer DiI and in situ hybridization, we have revealed the organization of OSNs and their connections with olfactory glomeruli in the land snail. Sequence and expression pattern analogy of land snail protein with olfactory marker protein (OMP) from vertebrates suggest that the land snail protein is an OMP-like protein. This protein could represent a plesiomorphic character in the evolution of olfactory proteins.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Neurobiologia, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, 34014 Trieste, Italy. dolphin@sissa.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mazzatenta
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pelosi
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cellerino
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D015870:Gene Expression; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000737:chemistry*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017385:Sequence Homology; D012908:Snails / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger