Encoding Gender and Individual Information in the Mouse Vomeronasal Organ

doi:10.1126/science.1154476

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Encoding Gender and Individual Information in the Mouse Vomeronasal Organ

Jie He,¹ Limei Ma,¹ SangSeong Kim,¹ Junichi Nakai,² C. Ron Yu¹^*

Abstract: The mammalian vomeronasal organ detects complex chemical signalsthat convey information about gender, strain, and the socialand reproductive status of an individual. How these signalsare encoded is poorly understood. We developed transgenic miceexpressing the calcium indicator G-CaMP2 and analyzed populationresponses of vomeronasal neurons to urine from individual animals.A substantial portion of cells was activated by either maleor female urine, but only a small population of cells respondedexclusively to gender-specific cues shared across strains andindividuals. Female cues activated more cells and were subjectto more complex hormonal regulations than male cues. In contrastto gender, strain and individual information was encoded bythe combinatorial activation of neurons such that urine fromdifferent individuals activated distinctive cell populations.

¹ Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street, Kansas City, MO 64110, USA.
² Laboratory for Memory and Learning, RIKEN Brain Science Institute, 2-1 Hirosawa, Wakoshi, Saitama, 351-0198, Japan.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed: cry{at}stowers-institute.org

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