Predicting the receptive range of olfactory receptors.
Although the family of genes encoding for olfactory receptors was identified more than 15 years ago, the difficulty of functionally expressing these receptors in an heterologous system has, with only some exceptions, rendered the receptive range of given olfactory receptors largely unknown. Furthermore, even when successfully expressed, the task of probing such a receptor with thousands of odors/ligands remains daunting. Here we provide proof of concept for a solution to this problem. Using computational methods, we tune an electronic nose to the receptive range of an olfactory receptor. We then use this electronic nose to predict the receptors' response to other odorants. Our method can be used to identify the receptive range of olfactory receptors, and can also be applied to other questions involving receptor-ligand interactions in non-olfactory settings.
Haddad
Rafi
R
Department of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel. rhaddad@weizmann.ac.il
Carmel
Liran
L
Sobel
Noam
N
Harel
David
D
D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009812:Odorants; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*
D018035:Receptors, Odorant