Scholars@Duke
Hiroaki Matsunami

Hiroaki Matsunami

Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
Molecular Genetics and Microbiology
matsu004@mc.duke.edu
Duke Box 3054, Durham, NC 27710
264 CARL Bldg, Durham, NC 27710
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Selected Publications

Finding the sweet spot of the insect gustatory receptor.

Journal Article Structure · August 8, 2024 In a recent issue of Nature, Gomes et al.1 utilized structural, experimental, and computational biology to investigate the ligand-gated activation of BmGr9, an insect gustatory receptor specifically tuned to D-fructose. Together with two other studies publ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Role of iRhom2 in Olfaction: Implications for Odorant Receptor Regulation and Activity-Dependent Adaptation.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · May 31, 2024 The cell surface metalloprotease ADAM17 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17) and its binding partners iRhom2 and iRhom1 (inactive Rhomboid-like proteins 1 and 2) modulate cell-cell interactions by mediating the release of membrane proteins such as TNFα ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

A chemical signal in human female tears lowers aggression in males.

Journal Article PLoS Biol · December 2023 Rodent tears contain social chemosignals with diverse effects, including blocking male aggression. Human tears also contain a chemosignal that lowers male testosterone, but its behavioral significance was unclear. Because reduced testosterone is associated ... Full text Link to item Cite

Engineered odorant receptors illuminate structural principles of odor discrimination.

Journal Article bioRxiv · November 17, 2023 A central challenge in olfaction is understanding how the olfactory system detects and distinguishes odorants with diverse physicochemical properties and molecular configurations. Vertebrate animals perceive odors via G protein-coupled odorant receptors (O ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antagonistic interactions between odorants alter human odor perception.

Journal Article Curr Biol · June 5, 2023 The olfactory system uses hundreds of odorant receptors (ORs), the largest group of the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, to detect a vast array of odorants. Each OR is activated by specific odorous ligands, and like other GPCRs, antagonism ca ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification and Characterization of Proteins That Are Involved in RTP1S-Dependent Transport of Olfactory Receptors.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · April 25, 2023 Olfaction is mediated via olfactory receptors (ORs) that are expressed on the cilia membrane of olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium. The functional expression of most ORs requires the assistance of receptor-transporting proteins (RTPs). W ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structural basis of odorant recognition by a human odorant receptor.

Journal Article Nature · March 2023 Our sense of smell enables us to navigate a vast space of chemically diverse odour molecules. This task is accomplished by the combinatorial activation of approximately 400 odorant G protein-coupled receptors encoded in the human genome1-3. How odorants ar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sex steroid hormone synthesis, metabolism, and the effects on the mammalian olfactory system.

Journal Article Cell Tissue Res · January 2023 Sex steroid hormones influence olfactory-mediated social behaviors, and it is generally hypothesized that these effects result from circulating hormones and/or neurosteroids synthesized in the brain. However, it is unclear whether sex steroid hormones are ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic and functional odorant receptor variation in the Homo lineage.

Journal Article iScience · January 2023 Humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans independently adapted to a wide range of geographic environments and their associated food odors. Using ancient DNA sequences, we explored the in vitro function of thirty odorant receptor genes in the genus Ho ... Full text Cite

Target-Captured mRNA from Murine Olfactory Bulb.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 The external world is perceived via sensory receptors arranged in highly organized systems according to functional strategies, which in turn reflect features of critical importance to both the sense and the animal. Thus describing the receptor organization ... Full text Link to item Cite

Activity-Dependent Labeling of Olfactory Sensory Neurons Using RNA Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization Followed by Phospho-S6 Immunofluorescence.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 This microscope-based method allows demonstrating that an odorant receptor responded to an odorant in vivo. In sections of olfactory epithelium from odorant-exposed mice, the subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons expressing a particular odorant recept ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring Cell Surface Expression of Odorant Receptors via Flow Cytometry.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 Odorant receptor proteins (ORs) have highly variable cell surface expression levels. The majority of both human and murine ORs depend on chaperone proteins to traffic from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell surface, while a limited subset of ORs express ... Full text Link to item Cite

Preface

Journal Article Methods in Molecular Biology · January 1, 2023 Cite

Neurogastronomy and the Odorant Receptors

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · 2023 Cite

Persistent post-COVID-19 smell loss is associated with immune cell infiltration and altered gene expression in olfactory epithelium.

Journal Article Sci Transl Med · December 21, 2022 SARS-CoV-2 causes profound changes in the sense of smell, including total smell loss. Although these alterations are often transient, many patients with COVID-19 exhibit olfactory dysfunction that lasts months to years. Although animal and human autopsy st ... Full text Link to item Cite

Finding the sweet spot of the insect gustatory receptor.

Journal Article Structure · August 8, 2024 In a recent issue of Nature, Gomes et al.1 utilized structural, experimental, and computational biology to investigate the ligand-gated activation of BmGr9, an insect gustatory receptor specifically tuned to D-fructose. Together with two other studies publ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Role of iRhom2 in Olfaction: Implications for Odorant Receptor Regulation and Activity-Dependent Adaptation.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · May 31, 2024 The cell surface metalloprotease ADAM17 (a disintegrin and metalloprotease 17) and its binding partners iRhom2 and iRhom1 (inactive Rhomboid-like proteins 1 and 2) modulate cell-cell interactions by mediating the release of membrane proteins such as TNFα ( ... Full text Link to item Cite

A chemical signal in human female tears lowers aggression in males.

Journal Article PLoS Biol · December 2023 Rodent tears contain social chemosignals with diverse effects, including blocking male aggression. Human tears also contain a chemosignal that lowers male testosterone, but its behavioral significance was unclear. Because reduced testosterone is associated ... Full text Link to item Cite

Engineered odorant receptors illuminate structural principles of odor discrimination.

Journal Article bioRxiv · November 17, 2023 A central challenge in olfaction is understanding how the olfactory system detects and distinguishes odorants with diverse physicochemical properties and molecular configurations. Vertebrate animals perceive odors via G protein-coupled odorant receptors (O ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antagonistic interactions between odorants alter human odor perception.

Journal Article Curr Biol · June 5, 2023 The olfactory system uses hundreds of odorant receptors (ORs), the largest group of the G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) superfamily, to detect a vast array of odorants. Each OR is activated by specific odorous ligands, and like other GPCRs, antagonism ca ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification and Characterization of Proteins That Are Involved in RTP1S-Dependent Transport of Olfactory Receptors.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · April 25, 2023 Olfaction is mediated via olfactory receptors (ORs) that are expressed on the cilia membrane of olfactory sensory neurons in the olfactory epithelium. The functional expression of most ORs requires the assistance of receptor-transporting proteins (RTPs). W ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structural basis of odorant recognition by a human odorant receptor.

Journal Article Nature · March 2023 Our sense of smell enables us to navigate a vast space of chemically diverse odour molecules. This task is accomplished by the combinatorial activation of approximately 400 odorant G protein-coupled receptors encoded in the human genome1-3. How odorants ar ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sex steroid hormone synthesis, metabolism, and the effects on the mammalian olfactory system.

Journal Article Cell Tissue Res · January 2023 Sex steroid hormones influence olfactory-mediated social behaviors, and it is generally hypothesized that these effects result from circulating hormones and/or neurosteroids synthesized in the brain. However, it is unclear whether sex steroid hormones are ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic and functional odorant receptor variation in the Homo lineage.

Journal Article iScience · January 2023 Humans, Neanderthals, and Denisovans independently adapted to a wide range of geographic environments and their associated food odors. Using ancient DNA sequences, we explored the in vitro function of thirty odorant receptor genes in the genus Ho ... Full text Cite

Target-Captured mRNA from Murine Olfactory Bulb.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 The external world is perceived via sensory receptors arranged in highly organized systems according to functional strategies, which in turn reflect features of critical importance to both the sense and the animal. Thus describing the receptor organization ... Full text Link to item Cite

Activity-Dependent Labeling of Olfactory Sensory Neurons Using RNA Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization Followed by Phospho-S6 Immunofluorescence.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 This microscope-based method allows demonstrating that an odorant receptor responded to an odorant in vivo. In sections of olfactory epithelium from odorant-exposed mice, the subpopulation of olfactory sensory neurons expressing a particular odorant recept ... Full text Link to item Cite

Measuring Cell Surface Expression of Odorant Receptors via Flow Cytometry.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2023 Odorant receptor proteins (ORs) have highly variable cell surface expression levels. The majority of both human and murine ORs depend on chaperone proteins to traffic from the endoplasmic reticulum to the cell surface, while a limited subset of ORs express ... Full text Link to item Cite

Preface

Journal Article Methods in Molecular Biology · January 1, 2023 Cite

Neurogastronomy and the Odorant Receptors

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · 2023 Cite

Persistent post-COVID-19 smell loss is associated with immune cell infiltration and altered gene expression in olfactory epithelium.

Journal Article Sci Transl Med · December 21, 2022 SARS-CoV-2 causes profound changes in the sense of smell, including total smell loss. Although these alterations are often transient, many patients with COVID-19 exhibit olfactory dysfunction that lasts months to years. Although animal and human autopsy st ... Full text Link to item Cite

An odorant receptor that senses four classes of musk compounds.

Journal Article Curr Biol · December 5, 2022 Musk was originally identified in male musk deer and other mammals to mark territories and attract females. In humans, musk compounds are widely used in perfumes and consumer products for their superior perceptual odor quality.1,2,3,4,5 Strikingly diverse ... Full text Link to item Cite

Decoding the olfactory map through targeted transcriptomics links murine olfactory receptors to glomeruli.

Journal Article Nat Commun · September 1, 2022 Sensory processing in olfactory systems is organized across olfactory bulb glomeruli, wherein axons of peripheral sensory neurons expressing the same olfactory receptor co-terminate to transmit receptor-specific activity to central neurons. Understanding h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Interactions among key residues regulate mammalian odorant receptor trafficking.

Journal Article FASEB J · July 2022 Odorant receptors (ORs) expressed in mammalian olfactory sensory neurons are essential for the sense of smell. However, structure-function studies of many ORs are hampered by unsuccessful heterologous expression. To understand and eventually overcome this ... Full text Link to item Cite

Large-Scale G Protein-Coupled Olfactory Receptor-Ligand Pairing.

Journal Article ACS Cent Sci · March 23, 2022 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) conserve common structural folds and activation mechanisms, yet their ligand spectra and functions are highly diverse. This work investigated how the amino-acid sequences of olfactory receptors (ORs)-the largest GPCR fam ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sequence coevolution and structure stabilization modulate olfactory receptor expression.

Journal Article Biophys J · March 1, 2022 Olfactory receptors (ORs) belong to class A G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs) and are activated by a variety of odorants. To date, there is no three-dimensional structure of an OR available. One of the major bottlenecks in obtaining purified protein for ... Full text Link to item Cite

Aging-related olfactory loss is associated with olfactory stem cell transcriptional alterations in humans.

Journal Article J Clin Invest · February 15, 2022 BACKGROUNDPresbyosmia, or aging-related olfactory loss, occurs in a majority of humans over age 65 years, yet remains poorly understood, with no specific treatment options. The olfactory epithelium (OE) is the peripheral organ for olfaction and is subject ... Full text Link to item Cite

Olfactory receptor 2 in vascular macrophages drives atherosclerosis by NLRP3-dependent IL-1 production.

Journal Article Science · January 14, 2022 Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory disease of the artery walls and involves immune cells such as macrophages. Olfactory receptors (OLFRs) are G protein–coupled chemoreceptors that have a central role in detecting odorants and the sense of smell. We found t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Olfactory receptors in macrophages and inflammation.

Journal Article Front Immunol · 2022 Olfactory receptors (ORs) that bind odorous ligands are the largest family of G-protein-coupled receptors. In the olfactory epithelium, approximately 400 and 1,100 members are expressed in humans and mice, respectively. Growing evidence suggests the extran ... Full text Link to item Cite

The GPCR OR13A1 is essential for lymphoma cells

Conference CANCER RESEARCH · 2022 Cite

Hot Spot Mutagenesis Improves the Functional Expression of Unique Mammalian Odorant Receptors.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · December 28, 2021 Vertebrate animals detect odors through olfactory receptors (ORs), members of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) family. Due to the difficulty in the heterologous expression of ORs, studies of their odor molecule recognition mechanisms have progressed p ... Full text Link to item Cite

Machine Learning Assisted Approach for Finding Novel High Activity Agonists of Human Ectopic Olfactory Receptors.

Journal Article Int J Mol Sci · October 26, 2021 Olfactory receptors (ORs) constitute the largest superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). ORs are involved in sensing odorants as well as in other ectopic roles in non-nasal tissues. Matching of an enormous number of the olfactory stimulation re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Generation and Characterization of a Cell Type-Specific, Inducible Cre-Driver Line to Study Olfactory Processing.

Journal Article J Neurosci · July 28, 2021 In sensory systems of the brain, mechanisms exist to extract distinct features from stimuli to generate a variety of behavioral repertoires. These often correspond to different cell types at various stages in sensory processing. In the mammalian olfactory ... Full text Link to item Cite

19-hydroxy Steroids in the Aromatase Reaction: Review on Expression and Potential Functions.

Journal Article J Endocr Soc · July 1, 2021 Scientific evidence related to the aromatase reaction in various biological processes spanning from mid-1960 to today is abundant; however, as our analytical sensitivity increases, a new look at the old chemical reaction is necessary. Here, we review an ir ... Full text Link to item Cite

Estrogen and sex-dependent loss of the vocal learning system in female zebra finches.

Journal Article Horm Behav · March 2021 Sex hormones alter the organization of the brain during early development and coordinate various behaviors throughout life. In zebra finches, song learning is limited to males, with the associated song learning brain pathways only maturing in males and atr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Encoding of odors by mammalian olfactory receptors

Journal Article · 2021 Identified ligands for > 500 mouse ORs ORs are specifically tuned towards individual odorants and their molecular properties Odor molecular properties are informative of odor responses Predictive modeling and convergent evolution analyses suggest specific ... Full text Cite

Securing Biochemical Samples Using Molecular Barcoding on Digital Microfluidic Biochips*

Conference BioCAS 2021 - IEEE Biomedical Circuits and Systems Conference, Proceedings · January 1, 2021 Microfluidic biochips are being adopted today in point-of-care diagnostics, e.g., COVID-19 testing; therefore, it is critical to ensure integrity of bio-sample before bioassays are run on-chip. A security technique called molecular barcoding was recently p ... Full text Cite

Maternally inherited peptides as strain-specific chemosignals.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 1, 2020 Most mammals rely on chemosensory cues for individual recognition, which is essential to many aspects of social behavior, such as maternal bonding, mate recognition, and inbreeding avoidance. Both volatile molecules and nonvolatile peptides secreted by ind ... Full text Link to item Cite

Semiochemical responsive olfactory sensory neurons are sexually dimorphic and plastic.

Journal Article Elife · November 24, 2020 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 distinc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Non-neuronal expression of SARS-CoV-2 entry genes in the olfactory system suggests mechanisms underlying COVID-19-associated anosmia.

Journal Article Sci Adv · July 31, 2020 Altered olfactory function is a common symptom of COVID-19, but its etiology is unknown. A key question is whether SARS-CoV-2 (CoV-2) - the causal agent in COVID-19 - affects olfaction directly, by infecting olfactory sensory neurons or their targets in th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Modulation of the combinatorial code of odorant receptor response patterns in odorant mixtures.

Journal Article Mol Cell Neurosci · April 2020 The perception of odors relies on combinatorial codes consisting of odorant receptor (OR) response patterns to encode odor identity. Modulation of these patterns by odorant interactions at ORs potentially explains several olfactory phenomena: mixture suppr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Single-cell analysis of olfactory neurogenesis and differentiation in adult humans.

Journal Article Nat Neurosci · March 2020 The presence of active neurogenic niches in adult humans is controversial. We focused attention to the human olfactory neuroepithelium, an extracranial site supplying input to the olfactory bulbs of the brain. Using single-cell RNA sequencing analyzing 28, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structural instability and divergence from conserved residues underlie intracellular retention of mammalian odorant receptors.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · February 11, 2020 Mammalian odorant receptors are a diverse and rapidly evolving set of G protein-coupled receptors expressed in olfactory cilia membranes. Most odorant receptors show little to no cell surface expression in nonolfactory cells due to endoplasmic reticulum re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Comparative Genomic Analysis of the Pheromone Receptor Class 1 Family (V1R) Reveals Extreme Complexity in Mouse Lemurs (Genus, Microcebus) and a Chromosomal Hotspot across Mammals.

Journal Article Genome Biol Evol · January 1, 2020 Sensory gene families are of special interest for both what they can tell us about molecular evolution and what they imply as mediators of social communication. The vomeronasal type-1 receptors (V1Rs) have often been hypothesized as playing a fundamental r ... Full text Link to item Cite

Concentration-Dependent Recruitment of Mammalian Odorant Receptors.

Journal Article eNeuro · 2020 A fundamental challenge in studying principles of organization used by the olfactory system to encode odor concentration information has been identifying comprehensive sets of activated odorant receptors (ORs) across a broad concentration range inside free ... Full text Link to item Cite

De-Orphanizing Mammalian Olfactory Receptors

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · 2020 Cite

Axonal Odorant Receptors Mediate Axon Targeting.

Journal Article Cell Rep · December 24, 2019 In mammals, odorant receptors not only detect odors but also define the target in the olfactory bulb, where sensory neurons project to give rise to the sensory map. The odorant receptor is expressed at the cilia, where it binds odorants, and at the axon te ... Full text Link to item Cite

Data from: Structural instability and divergence from conserved residues underlie intracellular retention of mammalian odorant receptors

Dataset · December 19, 2019 Mammalian odorant receptors are a diverse and rapidly evolving set of G protein-coupled receptors expressed in olfactory cilia membranes. Most odorant receptors show little to no cell surface expression in non-olfactory cells due to endoplasmic reticulum r ... Full text Cite

The N-terminal region of RTP1S plays important roles in dimer formation and odorant receptor-trafficking.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · October 4, 2019 Receptor-transporting protein 1S (RTP1S) is an accessory protein that mediates the transport of mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) into the plasma membrane. Although most ORs fail to localize to the cell surface when expressed alone in nonolfactory cells, f ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mapping Olfaction Through Transcriptome Profiling

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · September 1, 2019 Link to item Cite

Expression of the G protein coupled odorant receptors

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · September 1, 2019 Link to item Cite

Genetic variation across the human olfactory receptor repertoire alters odor perception.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · May 7, 2019 Humans use a family of more than 400 olfactory receptors (ORs) to detect odors, but there is currently no model that can predict olfactory perception from receptor activity patterns. Genetic variation in human ORs is abundant and alters receptor function, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Real-time In Vitro Monitoring of Odorant Receptor Activation by an Odorant in the Vapor Phase.

Journal Article J Vis Exp · April 23, 2019 Olfactory perception begins with the interaction of odorants with odorant receptors (OR) expressed by olfactory sensory neurons (OSN). Odor recognition follows a combinatorial coding scheme, where one OR can be activated by a set of odorants and one odoran ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Scalable, Multiplexed Assay for Decoding GPCR-Ligand Interactions with RNA Sequencing.

Journal Article Cell Syst · March 27, 2019 G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are central to how mammalian cells sense and respond to chemicals. Mammalian olfactory receptors (ORs), the largest family of GPCRs, mediate the sense of smell through activation by small molecules, though for most bonaf ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mammalian class I odorant receptors exhibit a conserved vestibular-binding pocket.

Journal Article Cell Mol Life Sci · March 2019 Odorant receptors represent the largest family of mammalian G protein-coupled receptors. Phylogenetically, they are split into two classes (I and II). By analyzing the entire subclass I odorant receptors sequences, we identified two class I-specific and hi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Beta-caryophyllene enhances wound healing through multiple routes.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2019 Beta-caryophyllene is an odoriferous bicyclic sesquiterpene found in various herbs and spices. Recently, it was found that beta-caryophyllene is a ligand of the cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB2). Activation of CB2 will decrease pain, a major signal for inflamma ... Full text Link to item Cite

Vapor detection and discrimination with a panel of odorant receptors.

Journal Article Nat Commun · November 1, 2018 Olfactory systems have evolved the extraordinary capability to detect and discriminate volatile odorous molecules (odorants) in the environment. Fundamentally, this process relies on the interaction of odorants and their cognate olfactory receptors (ORs) e ... Full text Link to item Cite

Experience dependent axon targeting in the olfactory system

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · September 1, 2018 Link to item Cite

Agonists of G-Protein-Coupled Odorant Receptors Are Predicted from Chemical Features.

Journal Article J Phys Chem Lett · May 3, 2018 Predicting the activity of chemicals for a given odorant receptor is a longstanding challenge. Here the activity of 258 chemicals on the human G-protein-coupled odorant receptor (OR)51E1, also known as prostate-specific G-protein-coupled receptor 2 (PSGR2) ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lessons from single-cell transcriptome analysis of oxygen-sensing cells.

Journal Article Cell Tissue Res · May 2018 The advent of single-cell RNA-sequencing (RNA-Seq) technology has enabled transcriptome profiling of individual cells. Comprehensive gene expression analysis at the single-cell level has proven to be effective in characterizing the most fundamental aspects ... Full text Link to item Cite

Molecular mechanism of activation of human musk receptors OR5AN1 and OR1A1 by (R)-muscone and diverse other musk-smelling compounds.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · April 24, 2018 Understanding olfaction at the molecular level is challenging due to the lack of crystallographic models of odorant receptors (ORs). To better understand the molecular mechanism of OR activation, we focused on chiral (R)-muscone and other musk-smelling odo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Odorant Receptor 7D4 Activation Dynamics.

Journal Article Angew Chem Int Ed Engl · April 16, 2018 Deciphering how an odorant activates an odorant receptor (OR) and how changes in specific OR residues affect its responsiveness are central to understanding our sense of smell. A joint approach combining site-directed mutagenesis and functional assays with ... Full text Link to item Cite

Carbon chain shape selectivity by the mouse olfactory receptor OR-I7.

Journal Article Org Biomol Chem · April 4, 2018 The rodent OR-I7 is an olfactory receptor exemplar activated by aliphatic aldehydes such as octanal. Normal alkanals shorter than heptanal bind OR-I7 without activating it and hence function as antagonists in vitro. We report a series of aldehydes designed ... Full text Link to item Cite

Structure-Function Relationships of Olfactory and Taste Receptors.

Journal Article Chem Senses · February 2, 2018 The field of chemical senses has made major progress in understanding the cellular mechanisms of olfaction and taste in the past 2 decades. However, the molecular understanding of odor and taste recognition is still lagging far behind and will require solv ... Full text Link to item Cite

An Antimicrobial Peptide and Its Neuronal Receptor Regulate Dendrite Degeneration in Aging and Infection.

Journal Article Neuron · January 3, 2018 Infections have been identified as possible risk factors for aging-related neurodegenerative diseases, but it remains unclear whether infection-related immune molecules have a causative role in neurodegeneration during aging. Here, we reveal an unexpected ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

A Testosterone Metabolite 19-Hydroxyandrostenedione Induces Neuroendocrine Trans-Differentiation of Prostate Cancer Cells via an Ectopic Olfactory Receptor.

Journal Article Front Oncol · 2018 Olfactory receptor OR51E2, also known as a Prostate Specific G-Protein Receptor, is highly expressed in prostate cancer but its function is not well understood. Through in silico and in vitro analyses, we identified 24 agonists and 1 antagonist for this re ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

High-Throughput Odorant Receptor Deorphanization Via Phospho-S6 Ribosomal Protein Immunoprecipitation and mRNA Profiling.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2018 We describe an approach for the high-throughput surveying of odorant receptors (ORs) expressed in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) that have been activated by specific odorants. When OSNs are activated, there is a molecular signature in the form of a phosp ... Full text Link to item Cite

Numerical Models and In Vitro Assays to Study Odorant Receptors.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2018 Unraveling the sense of smell relies on understanding how odorant receptors recognize odorant molecules. Given the vastness of the odorant chemical space and the complexity of the odorant receptor space, computational methods are in line to propose rules c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Live-cell Measurement of Odorant Receptor Activation Using a Real-time cAMP Assay.

Journal Article J Vis Exp · October 2, 2017 The enormous sizes of the mammalian odorant receptor (OR) families present difficulties to find their cognate ligands among numerous volatile chemicals. To efficiently and accurately deorphanize ORs, we combine the use of a heterologous cell line to expres ... Full text Link to item Cite

Modification of the response of olfactory receptors to acetophenone by CYP1a2.

Journal Article Sci Rep · August 31, 2017 Olfaction is mediated by the binding of odorant molecules to olfactory receptors (ORs). There are numerous proteins in the nasal mucus, and they contribute to olfaction through various mechanisms. Cytochrome P450 (CYP) family members are known to be presen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Split luciferase complementation assay for the analysis of G protein-coupled receptor ligand response in Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Journal Article Biotechnol Bioeng · June 2017 The budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae is equipped with G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR). Because the yeast GPCR signaling mechanism is partly similar to that of the mammalian system, S. cerevisiae can be used for a host of mammalian GPCR expression ... Full text Link to item Cite

The role of metals in mammalian olfaction of low molecular weight organosulfur compounds.

Journal Article Nat Prod Rep · May 10, 2017 Covering: up to the end of 2017While suggestions concerning the possible role of metals in olfaction and taste date back 50 years, only recently has it been possible to confirm these proposals with experiments involving individual olfactory receptors (ORs) ... Full text Link to item Cite

Variation in olfactory neuron repertoires is genetically controlled and environmentally modulated.

Journal Article Elife · April 25, 2017 The mouse olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) repertoire is composed of 10 million cells and each expresses one olfactory receptor (OR) gene from a pool of over 1000. Thus, the nose is sub-stratified into more than a thousand OSN subtypes. Here, we employ and v ... Full text Link to item Cite

Olfactory receptor accessory proteins play crucial roles in receptor function and gene choice.

Journal Article Elife · March 6, 2017 Each of the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) chooses to express a single G protein-coupled olfactory receptor (OR) from a pool of hundreds. Here, we show the receptor transporting protein (RTP) family members play a dual role in both normal OR trafficking ... Full text Link to item Cite

Receptor repertoire for aversive odorants

Journal Article CHEMICAL SENSES · November 1, 2016 Link to item Cite

Effect of cytochrome P450 on the response of olfactory receptor

Journal Article CHEMICAL SENSES · November 1, 2016 Link to item Cite

Smelling Sulfur: Copper and Silver Regulate the Response of Human Odorant Receptor OR2T11 to Low-Molecular-Weight Thiols.

Journal Article J Am Chem Soc · October 12, 2016 Mammalian survival depends on ultrasensitive olfactory detection of volatile sulfur compounds, since these compounds can signal the presence of rancid food, O2 depleted atmospheres, and predators (through carnivore excretions). Skunks exploit this sensitiv ... Full text Link to item Cite

QM/MM modeling and activity profiles and mutagenesis studies of the human musk olfactory receptor OR5AN1

Conference ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY · August 20, 2016 Link to item Cite

The human olfactory transcriptome.

Journal Article BMC Genomics · August 11, 2016 BACKGROUND: Olfaction is a versatile sensory mechanism for detecting thousands of volatile odorants. Although molecular basis of odorant signaling is relatively well understood considerable gaps remain in the complete charting of all relevant gene products ... Full text Link to item Cite

Single cell transcriptome analysis of mouse carotid body glomus cells.

Journal Article J Physiol · August 1, 2016 KEY POINTS: Carotid body (CB) glomus cells mediate acute oxygen sensing and the initiation of the hypoxic ventilatory response, yet the gene expression profile of these cells is not available. We demonstrate that the single cell RNA-Seq method is a powerfu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Responsiveness of G protein-coupled odorant receptors is partially attributed to the activation mechanism.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 1, 2015 Mammals detect and discriminate numerous odors via a large family of G protein-coupled odorant receptors (ORs). However, little is known about the molecular and structural basis underlying OR response properties. Using site-directed mutagenesis and computa ... Full text Link to item Cite

Mammalian odorant receptors: functional evolution and variation.

Journal Article Curr Opin Neurobiol · October 2015 In mammals, the perception of smell starts with the activation of odorant receptors (ORs) by volatile molecules in the environment. The mammalian OR repertoire has been subject to rapid evolution, and is highly diverse within the human population. Recent a ... Full text Link to item Cite

Molecular profiling of activated olfactory neurons identifies odorant receptors for odors in vivo.

Journal Article Nat Neurosci · October 2015 The mammalian olfactory system uses a large family of odorant receptors (ORs) to detect and discriminate amongst a myriad of volatile odor molecules. Understanding odor coding requires comprehensive mapping between ORs and corresponding odors. We developed ... Full text Link to item Cite

Global Survey of Variation in a Human Olfactory Receptor Gene Reveals Signatures of Non-Neutral Evolution.

Journal Article Chem Senses · September 2015 Allelic variation at 4 loci in the human olfactory receptor gene OR7D4 is associated with perceptual variation in the sex steroid-derived odorants, androstenone, and androstadienone. Androstadienone has been linked with chemosensory identification whereas ... Full text Link to item Cite

Conserved Residues Control Activation of Mammalian G Protein-Coupled Odorant Receptors.

Journal Article J Am Chem Soc · July 8, 2015 Odorant receptor (OR) genes and proteins represent more than 2% of our genome and 4% of our proteome and constitute the largest subgroup of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). The mechanism underlying OR activation remains poorly understood, as they do no ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cyclic Regulation of Sensory Perception by a Female Hormone Alters Behavior.

Journal Article Cell · June 4, 2015 Females may display dramatically different behavior depending on their state of ovulation. This is thought to occur through sex-specific hormones acting on behavioral centers in the brain. Whether incoming sensory activity also differs across the ovulation ... Full text Link to item Cite

Implausibility of the vibrational theory of olfaction.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · May 26, 2015 The vibrational theory of olfaction assumes that electron transfer occurs across odorants at the active sites of odorant receptors (ORs), serving as a sensitive measure of odorant vibrational frequencies, ultimately leading to olfactory perception. A previ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Molecular recognition of ketamine by a subset of olfactory G protein-coupled receptors.

Journal Article Sci Signal · March 31, 2015 Ketamine elicits various neuropharmacological effects, including sedation, analgesia, general anesthesia, and antidepressant activity. Through an in vitro screen, we identified four mouse olfactory receptors (ORs) that responded to ketamine. In addition to ... Full text Link to item Cite

Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor M3 modulates odorant receptor activity via inhibition of β-arrestin-2 recruitment.

Journal Article Nat Commun · March 24, 2015 The olfactory system in rodents serves a critical function in social, reproductive and survival behaviours. Processing of chemosensory signals in the brain is dynamically regulated in part by an animal's physiological state. We previously reported that typ ... Full text Link to item Cite

Improving the odorant sensitivity of olfactory receptor-expressing yeast with accessory proteins.

Journal Article Anal Biochem · February 15, 2015 Olfaction depends on the selectivity and sensitivity of olfactory receptors. Previous attempts at constructing a mammalian olfactory receptor-based artificial odorant sensing system in the budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae suffered from low sensitivit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Human olfactory receptor responses to odorants.

Journal Article Sci Data · 2015 Although the human olfactory system is capable of discriminating a vast number of odors, we do not currently understand what chemical features are encoded by olfactory receptors. In large part this is due to a paucity of data in a search space covering the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cell-based system for identification of olfactory receptors

Chapter · December 1, 2014 The discovery and characterization of odorant receptors (ORs) beginning in the early 1990s have opened up the ability to study olfaction from a molecular perspective. Hundreds of OR genes that differ between organisms exist, and each gene codes for a G pro ... Full text Cite

Mechanisms of olfaction

Chapter · December 1, 2014 Molecular mechanisms of olfaction have been intensively studied in the last quarter century. Receptors by which olfactory stimuli are detected are vastly different between different animal species and even between different olfactory organs of the same spe ... Full text Cite

Aldehyde recognition and discrimination by mammalian odorant receptors via functional group-specific hydration chemistry.

Journal Article ACS Chem Biol · November 21, 2014 The mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) form a chemical-detecting interface between the atmosphere and the nervous system. This large gene family is composed of hundreds of membrane proteins predicted to form as many unique small molecule binding niches with ... Full text Link to item Cite

In vivo identification of eugenol-responsive and muscone-responsive mouse odorant receptors.

Journal Article J Neurosci · November 19, 2014 Our understanding of mammalian olfactory coding has been impeded by the paucity of information about the odorant receptors (ORs) that respond to a given odorant ligand in awake, freely behaving animals. Identifying the ORs that respond in vivo to a given o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Calreticulin: roles in cell-surface protein expression.

Journal Article Membranes (Basel) · September 16, 2014 In order to perform their designated functions, proteins require precise subcellular localizations. For cell-surface proteins, such as receptors and channels, they are able to transduce signals only when properly targeted to the cell membrane. Calreticulin ... Full text Link to item Cite

QM/MM model of the mouse olfactory receptor MOR244-3 validated by site-directed mutagenesis experiments.

Journal Article Biophys J · September 2, 2014 Understanding structure/function relationships of olfactory receptors is challenging due to the lack of x-ray structural models. Here, we introduce a QM/MM model of the mouse olfactory receptor MOR244-3, responsive to organosulfur odorants such as (methylt ... Full text Link to item Cite

Astringency: a more stringent definition.

Journal Article Chem Senses · July 2014 Despite being an everyday sensory experience, the nature of astringency perception is not clear. In this issue of Chemical Senses, Schöbel et al. demonstrate that astringency is a trigeminal sensation in human, and astringents trigger a G protein-coupled p ... Full text Link to item Cite

The missense of smell: functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire.

Journal Article Nat Neurosci · January 2014 Humans have ~400 intact odorant receptors, but each individual has a unique set of genetic variations that lead to variation in olfactory perception. We used a heterologous assay to determine how often genetic polymorphisms in odorant receptors alter recep ... Full text Open Access Link to item Cite

The missense of smell: Functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire

Journal Article Nature Neuroscience · January 1, 2014 Humans have ∼400 intact odorant receptors, but each individual has a unique set of genetic variations that lead to variation in olfactory perception. We used a heterologous assay to determine how often genetic polymorphisms in odorant receptors alter recep ... Full text Cite

The molecular basis of sour sensing in mammals

Chapter · January 1, 2014 Taste plays an important role for organisms in determining the properties of ingested substances by conveying important information on five basic taste modalities—sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. Sweet, salty, and umami taste modalities convey the ca ... Full text Cite

Next-generation sequencing of the human olfactory receptors

Journal Article Methods in Molecular Biology · December 1, 2013 Humans have approximately 400 intact olfactory receptors (ORs). Among this set there are a large number of variations between individuals, a subset of which affects receptor function and can lead to interindividual variation in olfactory perception. Techno ... Full text Cite

Odorant-receptor interaction

Chapter · December 1, 2013 Odorant-receptor interactions constitute a key step in the olfactory detection of chemical compounds. Various studies support the combinatorial coding of olfaction, in which each odorant activates an array of odorant receptors and each odorant receptor is ... Full text Cite

Unfolding the mystery of olfactory receptor gene expression.

Journal Article Dev Cell · October 28, 2013 Reporting recently in Cell, Dalton et al. (2013) identify a central role for the unfolded protein response in the regulation of olfactory receptor expression, unveiling molecular players in an elaborate feedback loop that controls the stabilization and est ... Full text Link to item Cite

Using conformationally restricted odorant ligands to probe the olfactory GPCRs

Conference ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY · September 8, 2013 Link to item Cite

Characterization of allelic-biased genes in single olfactory neurons

Journal Article MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF THE CELL · January 1, 2013 Link to item Cite

General olfactory sensitivity database (GOSdb): candidate genes and their genomic variations.

Journal Article Hum Mutat · January 2013 Genetic variations in olfactory receptors likely contribute to the diversity of odorant-specific sensitivity phenotypes. Our working hypothesis is that genetic variations in auxiliary olfactory genes, including those mediating transduction and sensory neur ... Full text Link to item Cite

Next-generation sequencing of the human olfactory receptors.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2013 Humans have approximately 400 intact olfactory receptors (ORs). Among this set there are a large number of variations between individuals, a subset of which affects receptor function and can lead to interindividual variation in olfactory perception. Techno ... Full text Link to item Cite

A protocol for heterologous expression and functional assay for mouse pheromone receptors.

Journal Article Methods Mol Biol · 2013 Innate social behaviors like intermale aggression, fear, and mating rituals are important for survival and propagation of a species. In mice, these behaviors have been implicated to be mediated by peptide pheromones that are sensed by a class of G protein- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic variation in the odorant receptor OR2J3 is associated with the ability to detect the "grassy" smelling odor, cis-3-hexen-1-ol.

Journal Article Chem Senses · September 2012 The ability to detect many odors varies among individuals; however, the contribution of genotype to this variation has been assessed for relatively few compounds. We have identified a genetic basis for the ability to detect the flavor compound cis-3-hexen- ... Full text Link to item Cite

Receptor-transporting protein 1 short (RTP1S) mediates translocation and activation of odorant receptors by acting through multiple steps.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · June 22, 2012 Odorant receptor (OR) proteins are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum when heterologously expressed in cultured cells of non-olfactory origins. RTP1S is an accessory protein to mammalian ORs and facilitates their trafficking to the cell-surface membrane ... Full text Link to item Cite

Crucial role of copper in detection of metal-coordinating odorants.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · February 28, 2012 Odorant receptors (ORs) in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) mediate detection of volatile odorants. Divalent sulfur compounds, such as thiols and thioethers, are extremely potent odorants. We identify a mouse OR, MOR244-3, robustly responding to (methylthi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Functional evolution of mammalian odorant receptors.

Journal Article PLoS Genet · 2012 The mammalian odorant receptor (OR) repertoire is an attractive model to study evolution, because ORs have been subjected to rapid evolution between species, presumably caused by changes of the olfactory system to adapt to the environment. However, functio ... Full text Link to item Cite

RAMP like proteins : RTP and REEP family of proteins.

Journal Article Adv Exp Med Biol · 2012 Mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) are typically retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) when expressed in heterologous cells. The RTP (Receptor-Transporting Protein) and REEP (Receptor Expression Enhancing Protein) family of proteins were first identifi ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic variation of an odorant receptor OR7D4 and sensory perception of cooked meat containing androstenone.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2012 Although odour perception impacts food preferences, the effect of genotypic variation of odorant receptors (ORs) on the sensory perception of food is unclear. Human OR7D4 responds to androstenone, and genotypic variation in OR7D4 predicts variation in the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Calreticulin chaperones regulate functional expression of vomeronasal type 2 pheromone receptors.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · October 4, 2011 A variety of social behaviors like intermale aggression, fear, and mating rituals are important for sustenance of a species. In mice, these behaviors have been implicated to be mediated by peptide pheromones that are sensed by a class of G protein-coupled ... Full text Link to item Cite

Smelling sulfur: An odorant receptor for divalent sulfur compounds employs copper ion as a cofactor

Conference ABSTRACTS OF PAPERS OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY · August 28, 2011 Link to item Cite

G protein G(alpha)o is essential for vomeronasal function and aggressive behavior in mice.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · August 2, 2011 The rodent vomeronasal organ (VNO) mediates the regulation of species-specific and interspecies social behaviors. We have used gene targeting to examine the role of the G protein Gαo, encoded by the gene Gnao1, in vomeronasal function. We used the Cre-loxP ... Full text Link to item Cite

Functional Expression of Odorant Receptor In Vitro

Journal Article IN VITRO CELLULAR & DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY-ANIMAL · June 1, 2011 Link to item Cite

Assaying surface expression of chemosensory receptors in heterologous cells.

Journal Article J Vis Exp · February 23, 2011 The vivid world of odors is recognized by the sense of olfaction. Olfaction in mice is mediated by a repertoire of about 1200 G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCRs) that are postulated to bind volatile odorant molecules and converting the extracellular signal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Activation state of the M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor modulates mammalian odorant receptor signaling.

Journal Article Sci Signal · January 11, 2011 A diverse repertoire of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein (G protein)-coupled receptors (GPCRs) enables cells to sense their environment. Mammalian olfaction requires the activation of odorant receptors (ORs), the largest family of GPCRs; h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Common promoter elements in odorant and vomeronasal receptor genes.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2011 In mammals, odorants and pheromones are detected by hundreds of odorant receptors (ORs) and vomeronasal receptors (V1Rs and V2Rs) expressed by sensory neurons that are respectively located in the main olfactory epithelium and in the vomeronasal organ. Even ... Full text Link to item Cite

Sour taste responses in mice lacking PKD channels.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2011 BACKGROUND: The polycystic kidney disease-like ion channel PKD2L1 and its associated partner PKD1L3 are potential candidates for sour taste receptors. PKD2L1 is expressed in type III taste cells that respond to sour stimuli and genetic elimination of cells ... Full text Link to item Cite

Interaction between PKD1L3 and PKD2L1 through their transmembrane domains is required for localization of PKD2L1 at taste pores in taste cells of circumvallate and foliate papillae.

Journal Article FASEB J · October 2010 The polycystic kidney disease 1-like 3 (PKD1L3) and polycystic kidney disease 2-like 1 (PKD2L1) proteins have been proposed to form heteromers that function as sour taste receptors in mammals. Here, we show that PKD1L3 and PKD2L1 interact through their tra ... Full text Link to item Cite

PKD2L1 is associated with the sour taste transduction

Journal Article Neuroscience Research · January 2010 Full text Cite

Dynamic functional evolution of an odorant receptor for sex-steroid-derived odors in primates.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · December 15, 2009 Odorant receptors are among the fastest evolving genes in animals. However, little is known about the functional changes of individual odorant receptors during evolution. We have recently demonstrated a link between the in vitro function of a human odorant ... Full text Link to item Cite

SR1, a mouse odorant receptor with an unusually broad response profile.

Journal Article J Neurosci · November 18, 2009 The current consensus model in mammalian olfaction is that the detection of millions of odorants requires a large number of odorant receptors (ORs) and that each OR interacts selectively with a small subset of odorants, which are typically related in struc ... Full text Link to item Cite

Taste perception: how sweet it is (to be transcribed by you).

Journal Article Curr Biol · August 11, 2009 In mammals, sweet taste is mediated largely by a single receptor. New work shows that polymorphisms in the promoter region of one subunit contribute to variation in sweet perception in the human population. ... Full text Link to item Cite

Chemoreception scientists gather under the Florida sun: The 31st Annual Association for Chemoreception Sciences meeting.

Journal Article Ann N Y Acad Sci · August 2009 The 31st Annual Association for Chemoreception Sciences (AChemS) met in Sarasota, Florida April 22-26, 2009, attracting approximately 600 registrants and nearly 400 abstracts. In addition to poster and platform presentations, the program offered symposia, ... Full text Link to item Cite

Trafficking of mammalian chemosensory receptors by receptor-transporting proteins.

Journal Article Ann N Y Acad Sci · July 2009 Although mammalian odorant receptors (ORs) were identified more than 15 years ago, we still do not understand how odorant molecules interact with ORs at a molecular level. Previous studies of mammalian ORs have tested few ORs against many odorants. Some fu ... Full text Link to item Cite

Odor coding by a Mammalian receptor repertoire.

Journal Article Sci Signal · March 3, 2009 Deciphering olfactory encoding requires a thorough description of the ligands that activate each odorant receptor (OR). In mammalian systems, however, ligands are known for fewer than 50 of more than 1400 human and mouse ORs, greatly limiting our understan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels and taste sensation.

Journal Article J Dent Res · March 2009 Humans have 5 basic taste sensations: sweet, bitter, sour, salty, and umami (taste of 1-amino acids). Among 33 genes related to transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, 3--including TRP-melastatin 5 (TRPM5), polycystic kidney disease-1-like 3 (PKD1L3), ... Full text Link to item Cite

Odorant Receptor Polymorphisms and Olfactory Perception

Journal Article CHEMICAL SENSES · March 1, 2009 Link to item Cite

Guanylyl cyclase-D in the olfactory CO2 neurons is activated by bicarbonate.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · February 10, 2009 Atmospheric CO(2) is an important environmental cue that regulates several types of animal behavior. In mice, CO(2) responses of the olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) require the activity of carbonic anhydrase to catalyze the conversion of CO(2) to bicarbon ... Full text Link to item Cite

Odor coding by a mammalian receptor repertoire

Journal Article Neuroscience Research · January 2009 Full text Cite

Receptors, circuits, and behaviors: new directions in chemical senses.

Journal Article J Neurosci · November 12, 2008 The chemical senses, smell and taste, are the most poorly understood sensory modalities. In recent years, however, the field of chemosensation has benefited from new methods and technical innovations that have accelerated the rate of scientific progress. F ... Full text Link to item Cite

Odor Coding by a Mammalian Receptor Repertoire

Journal Article CHEMICAL SENSES · October 1, 2008 Link to item Cite

Off-response property of an acid-activated cation channel complex PKD1L3-PKD2L1.

Journal Article EMBO Rep · July 2008 Ligand-gated ion channels are important in sensory and synaptic transduction. The PKD1L3-PKD2L1 channel complex is a sour taste receptor candidate that is activated by acids. Here, we report that the proton-activated PKD1L3-PKD2L1 ion channels have the uni ... Full text Link to item Cite

The candidate sour taste receptor, PKD2L1, is expressed by type III taste cells in the mouse.

Journal Article Chem Senses · March 2008 The transient receptor potential channel, PKD2L1, is reported to be a candidate receptor for sour taste based on molecular biological and functional studies. Here, we investigated the expression pattern of PKD2L1-immunoreactivity (IR) in taste buds of the ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluating cell-surface expression and measuring activation of mammalian odorant receptors in heterologous cells.

Journal Article Nat Protoc · 2008 A fundamental question in olfaction is which odorant receptors (ORs) are activated by a given odorant. A major roadblock to investigating odorant-OR relationships in mammals has been the inability to express ORs in heterologous cells suitable for screening ... Full text Link to item Cite

Genetic variation in a human odorant receptor alters odour perception.

Journal Article Nature · September 27, 2007 Human olfactory perception differs enormously between individuals, with large reported perceptual variations in the intensity and pleasantness of a given odour. For instance, androstenone (5alpha-androst-16-en-3-one), an odorous steroid derived from testos ... Full text Link to item Cite

Detection of near-atmospheric concentrations of CO2 by an olfactory subsystem in the mouse.

Journal Article Science · August 17, 2007 Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important environmental cue for many organisms but is odorless to humans. It remains unclear whether the mammalian olfactory system can detect CO2 at concentrations around the average atmospheric level (0.038%). We demonstrated t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Synergism of accessory factors in functional expression of mammalian odorant receptors.

Journal Article J Biol Chem · May 18, 2007 The discovery of odorant receptors led to endeavors in matching them with their cognate ligands. Although it has been challenging to functionally express odorant receptors in heterologous cells, previous studies have linked efficient odorant receptor expre ... Full text Link to item Cite

Transient receptor potential family members PKD1L3 and PKD2L1 form a candidate sour taste receptor.

Journal Article Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A · August 15, 2006 Animals use their gustatory systems to evaluate the nutritious value, toxicity, sodium content, and acidity of food. Although characterization of molecular identities that receive taste chemicals is essential, molecular receptors underlying sour taste sens ... Full text Link to item Cite

Functional analysis of a mammalian odorant receptor subfamily.

Journal Article J Neurochem · June 2006 Phylogenetic analysis groups mammalian odorant receptors into two broad classes and numerous subfamilies. These subfamilies are proposed to reflect functional organization. Testing this idea requires an assay allowing detailed functional characterization o ... Full text Link to item Cite

Deorphanizing'' mammalian odorant receptors

Conference CHEMICAL SENSES · June 1, 2006 Link to item Cite

Neuronal expression of the Ccm2 gene in a new mouse model of cerebral cavernous malformations.

Journal Article Mamm Genome · February 2006 Cerebral cavernous malformations are vascular defects of the central nervous system consisting of clusters of dilated vessels that are subject to frequent hemorrhaging. The genes mutated in three forms of autosomal dominant cerebral cavernous malformations ... Full text Link to item Cite

RTP family members induce functional expression of mammalian odorant receptors.

Journal Article Cell · November 24, 2004 Transport of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to the cell surface membrane is critical in order for the receptors to recognize their ligands. However, mammalian GPCR odorant receptors (ORs), when heterologously expressed in cells, are poorly expressed o ... Full text Link to item Cite

An imaging-based approach to identify ligands for olfactory receptors.

Journal Article Neuropharmacology · October 2004 Odorant receptors (ORs) form one of the largest gene families in the genome. However, the vast majority are orphan receptors as the ligands that activate them remain unknown. Deorphaning approaches have generally focused on finding ligands for particular r ... Full text Link to item Cite

Taste perception: how to make a gourmet mouse.

Journal Article Curr Biol · February 3, 2004 Sugars and amino acids are mainly associated with desirable taste sensation. A new study using knockout mouse models shows that the detection of various sugars, artificial sweeteners and L-amino acids is exclusively mediated by taste cells that express one ... Link to item Cite

Taste and pheromone perception in mammals and flies.

Journal Article Genome Biol · 2003 Featured Publication The olfactory systems of insects and mammals have analogous anatomical features and use similar molecular logic for olfactory coding. The molecular underpinnings of the chemosensory systems that detect taste and pheromone cues have only recently been chara ... Full text Link to item Cite

Receptors for bitter and sweet taste.

Journal Article Curr Opin Neurobiol · August 2002 Featured Publication The identification of two families of receptors, T1Rs and T2Rs, for sweet and bitter taste stimuli has opened the door to understanding some of the basic mechanisms underlying taste transduction in mammals. Studies of the functions of these receptors and t ... Full text Link to item Cite

A candidate taste receptor gene near a sweet taste locus.

Journal Article Nat Neurosci · May 2001 Featured Publication The mechanisms underlying sweet taste in mammals have been elusive. Although numerous studies have implicated G proteins in sweet taste detection, the expected G protein-coupled receptors have not been found. Here we describe a candidate taste receptor gen ... Full text Link to item Cite

A family of candidate taste receptors in human and mouse.

Journal Article Nature · April 6, 2000 Featured Publication The gustatory system of mammals can sense four basic taste qualities, bitter, sweet, salty and sour, as well as umami, the taste of glutamate. Previous studies suggested that the detection of bitter and sweet tastants by taste receptor cells in the mouth i ... Full text Link to item Cite

Involvement of R-cadherin in the early stage of glomerulogenesis.

Journal Article J Am Soc Nephrol · July 1998 The earliest commitment to the formation of glomeruli is recognizable in S-shaped bodies. Although cell-cell adhesion seems likely to play a crucial role in this process, how glomerular epithelial cells segregate from the other parts of the nephron is unkn ... Full text Link to item Cite

A multigene family encoding a diverse array of putative pheromone receptors in mammals.

Journal Article Cell · August 22, 1997 Featured Publication The vomeronasal organ of mammals is an olfactory sensory structure that detects pheromones. It contains two subsets of sensory neurons that differentially express G alpha(o) and G alpha(i2). By comparing gene expression in single neurons, we identified a n ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cadherin-6 expression transiently delineates specific rhombomeres, other neural tube subdivisions, and neural crest subpopulations in mouse embryos.

Journal Article Dev Biol · March 15, 1997 Mammalian cadherin-6 (K-cadherin, cad6) was originally identified by means of the polymerase chain reaction, but its biological functions have not yet been determined. We analyzed the expression pattern of the mouse homologue of this cadherin during develo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Developmental defects in mouse embryos lacking N-cadherin.

Journal Article Dev Biol · January 1, 1997 To investigate the functions of N-cadherin in vivo, we have mutated the gene encoding this adhesion protein in mice. Although N-cadherin is expressed at the time of gastrulation and neurulation, both neurulation and somitogenesis initiate apparently normal ... Full text Link to item Cite

Expression of cadherin-11 delineates boundaries, neuromeres, and nuclei in the developing mouse brain.

Journal Article Dev Dyn · August 1996 Cadherin-11 (cad11 or OB-cadherin) was previously identified as a mesenchymal cell-cell adhesion molecule. Here we studied the expression of cad11 transcripts in developing brains derived from E11.5 to E16.5 mouse embryos. In the brains at these stages, ca ... Full text Link to item Cite

Fetal brain subdivisions defined by R- and E-cadherin expressions: evidence for the role of cadherin activity in region-specific, cell-cell adhesion.

Journal Article Dev Biol · December 1995 Featured Publication We found that R-cadherin, a Ca2(+)-dependent cell--cell adhesion molecule, is expressed in restricted regions of the mouse fetal brain, as was found for E-cadherin previously. R-cadherin delineated a subset of alar domains within forebrain neuromeres and c ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cadherin-11 expressed in association with mesenchymal morphogenesis in the head, somite, and limb bud of early mouse embryos.

Journal Article Dev Biol · May 1995 Cadherin-11 (cad-11) is a novel member of the cadherin family of cell adhesion molecules, having recently been identified by means of the polymerase chain reaction. To study the function and expression of this molecule, we cloned mouse, cad-11 cDNA. Transf ... Full text Link to item Cite

Cell binding specificity of mouse R-cadherin and chromosomal mapping of the gene.

Journal Article Journal of cell science · September 1993 R-cadherin was originally identified as a chicken cadherin expressed by the retina. Here, we describe the identification of a mouse homologue of R-cadherin. We isolated mouse cDNAs encoding a cadherin with 94% identity in amino acid sequence to the chicken ... Full text Cite