title: Chemical sensing of DNT by engineered olfactory yeast strain.
abstract: With the increasing threat of environmental toxicants including biological and chemical warfare agents, fabricating innovative biomimetic systems to detect these harmful agents is critically important. With the broad objective of developing such a biosensor, here we report the construction of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain containing the primary components of the mammalian olfactory signaling pathway. In this engineered yeast strain, WIF-1alpha, olfactory receptor signaling is coupled to green fluorescent protein expression. Using this 'olfactory yeast', we screened for olfactory receptors that could report the presence of the odorant 2,4-dinitrotoluene, an explosive residue mimic. With this approach, we have identified the novel rat olfactory receptor Olfr226, which is closely related to the mouse olfactory receptors Olfr2 and MOR226-1, as a 2,4-dinitrotoluene-responsive receptor.
authors.affiliation: Fels Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Biology, Temple University School of Medicine, 3307 N. Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19140, USA.
authors.forename: Venkat
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Radhika
authors.forename: Tassula
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Proikas-Cezanne
authors.forename: Muralidharan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jayaraman
authors.forename: Djamila
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Onesime
authors.forename: Ji Hee
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Ha
authors.forename: Danny N
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Dhanasekaran
mesh_terms: D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D008322:Mammals; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009812:Odorants; D030781:Organisms, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics*; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled / Q000235:genetics*; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D018035:Receptors, Odorant; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases