title: Olfactory sensory neurons transiently express multiple olfactory receptors during development.
abstract: In mammals, each olfactory sensory neuron randomly expresses one, and only one, olfactory receptor (OR)--a phenomenon called the "one-neuron-one-receptor" rule. Although extensively studied, this rule was never proven for all ~1,000 OR genes in one cell at once, and little is known about its dynamics. Here, we directly tested this rule by single-cell transcriptomic sequencing of 178 cells from the main olfactory epithelium of adult and newborn mice. To our surprise, a subset of cells expressed multiple ORs. Most of these cells were developmentally immature. Our results illustrated how the "one-neuron-one-receptor" rule may have been established: At first, a single neuron temporarily expressed multiple ORs--seemingly violating the rule--and then all but one OR were eliminated. This work provided experimental evidence that epigenetic regulation in the olfactory system selects a single OR by suppressing a few transiently expressed ORs in a single cell during development.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Longzhi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tan
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA xie@chemistry.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: X Sunney
authors.initials: XS
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D051379:Mice; D018034:Olfactory Receptor Neurons / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018035:Receptors, Odorant / Q000235:genetics*; D017423:Sequence Analysis, RNA / Q000379:methods; D059010:Single-Cell Analysis / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D018035:Receptors, Odorant
keywords: immature and mature olfactory sensory neurons; odorant receptor; olfactory system; single‐cell RNA‐Seq; trace amine‐associated receptor (TAAR)