title: Receptive range analysis of a mouse odorant receptor subfamily.
abstract: Mammals deploy a large array of odorant receptors (ORs) to detect and distinguish a vast number of odorant molecules. ORs vary widely in the type of odorant structures recognized and in the breadth of molecular receptive range (MRR), with some ORs recognizing a small group of closely related molecules and other ORs recognizing a wide range of structures. While closely related ORs have been shown to have similar MRRs, the functional relationships among less closely related ORs are unclear. We screened a small group of ORs with a diverse odorant panel to identify a new odorant-OR pairing (unsaturated aldehydes and MOR263-3). We then extensively screened MOR263-3 and a series of additional MORs related to MOR263-3 in various ways. MORs related by phylogenetic analysis (several other members of the MOR263 subfamily) had MRRs that overlapped with the MRR of MOR263-3, even with amino acid identity as low as 48% (MOR263-2). MOR171-17, predicted to be functionally related to MOR263-3 by an alternative bioinformatic analysis, but with only 39% amino acid identity, had a distinct odorant specificity. Our results support the use of phylogenetic analysis to predict functional relationships among ORs with relatively low amino acid identity. We screened a small group of mouse odorant receptors (MORs) with a diverse odorant panel to identify a new odorant-OR pairing (unsaturated aldehydes and MOR263-3), then extensively screened a series of additional MORs related to MOR263-3 in various ways. MORs related by phylogenetic analysis had odorant specificities that overlapped with that of MOR263-3, but MOR171-17, predicted to be functionally related to MOR263-3 by an alternative bioinformatic analysis, had a distinct odorant specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Jingyi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel.
authors.forename: Rafi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Haddad
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Vanessa
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Selvan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bavan
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
authors.forename: Charles W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Luetje
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009812:Odorants; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000502:physiology*; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D018035:Receptors, Odorant
keywords: Xenopus oocytes; electrophysiology; heterologous expression; ligand specificity; molecular receptive range; olfactory receptors