Semiochemical responsive olfactory sensory neurons are sexually dimorphic and plastic.

Journal Article (Journal Article)

Understanding how genes and experience work in concert to generate phenotypic variability will provide a better understanding of individuality. Here, we considered this in the main olfactory epithelium, a chemosensory structure with over a thousand distinct cell types in mice. We identified a subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons, defined by receptor expression, whose abundances were sexually dimorphic. This subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons was over-represented in sex-separated mice and robustly responsive to sex-specific semiochemicals. Sex-combined housing led to an attenuation of the dimorphic representations. Single-cell sequencing analysis revealed an axis of activity-dependent gene expression amongst a subset of the dimorphic OSN populations. Finally, the pro-apoptotic gene Baxwas necessary to generate the dimorphic representations. Altogether, our results suggest a role of experience and activity in influencing homeostatic mechanisms to generate a robust sexually dimorphic phenotype in the main olfactory epithelium.

Full Text

Duke Authors

Cited Authors

  • Vihani, A; Hu, XS; Gundala, S; Koyama, S; Block, E; Matsunami, H

Published Date

  • November 24, 2020

Published In

Volume / Issue

  • 9 /

PubMed ID

  • 33231170

Pubmed Central ID

  • PMC7732343

Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)

  • 2050-084X

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.7554/eLife.54501

Language

  • eng

Conference Location

  • England