title: Nuclear architecture and gene silencing in olfactory sensory neurons.
abstract: Odorants are discriminated by hundreds of odorant receptor (OR) genes, which are dispersed throughout the mammalian genome. The OR genes are expressed in a highly specialized type of cell, the olfactory sensory neuron. Each one of these neurons expresses one of the 2 alleles from one single OR gene type. The mechanisms underlying OR gene expression are unclear. Here we describe recent work demonstrating that the olfactory sensory neuron shows a particular nuclear architecture, and that the genomic OR loci are colocalized in silencing heterochromatin compartments within the nucleus. These discoveries highlight the important role played by epigenetic modifications and nuclear genome organization in the regulation of OR gene expression.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Biochemistry ; University of São Paulo ; São Paulo , Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucia M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Armelin-Correa
authors.forename: Maíra H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Nagai
authors.forename: Artur G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Leme Silva
authors.forename: Bettina
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Malnic
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics*; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000378:metabolism*; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000166:cytology*; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D018035:Receptors, Odorant
keywords: H3K27me3; Odorant receptor, OR; facultative heterochromatin; nuclear architecture; odorant receptor; odorant receptor gene choice; olfactory sensory neuron