Chemical Senses Advance Access originally published online on June 12, 2009
Chemical Senses 2009 34(7):535-545; doi:10.1093/chemse/bjp028
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Molecular Tuning of Odorant Receptors and Its Implication for Odor Signal Processing
1 Monell Chemical Senses Center, 3500 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA 2 Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, 12801 East 17th Avenue, Aurora, CO 80045, USA
Correspondence to be sent to: Diego Restrepo, Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Neuroscience Program, University of Colorado Denver, Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. e-mail: diego.restrepo{at}ucdenver.edu
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The discovery of the odorant receptor (OR) family by Buck and Axel in 1991 provided a quantum jump in our understanding of olfactory function. However, the study of the responsiveness of ORs to odor ligands was challenging due to the difficulties in deorphanizing the receptors. In this manuscript, we review recent findings of OR responsiveness that have come about through improved OR deorphanization methods, site-directed mutagenesis, structural modeling studies, and studies of OR responses in situ in olfactory sensory neurons. Although there has been a major leap in our understanding of receptor–ligand interactions and how these contribute to the input to the olfactory system, an improvement of our understanding of receptor structure and dynamics and interactions with intracellular and extracellular proteins is necessary.
Key words: electroolfactogram, odorant receptor, olfactory sensory neuron
Accepted 23 April 2009
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