Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Sci. Signal., 3 March 2009
Vol. 2, Issue 60, p. ra9
[DOI: 10.1126/scisignal.2000016]

RESEARCH

Editor's Summary

To Shape a Smell?
Our ability to detect and discriminate among the numerous odorous compounds to which we are exposed depends on odorant recognition by members of a large family of heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide–binding protein (G protein)–coupled odorant receptors (ORs). However, the specific physicochemical properties that enable a particular odorant to act as a ligand for a particular receptor—and thus the initial stage in determining how that odorant is perceived—remain unclear. Saito et al. used a heterologous expression system to test the responses of a large library of human and mouse ORs with a panel of 93 odorants. Analysis of ligand properties and OR sequences enabled the authors to develop a model for predicting interactions between ORs and their ligands.

Citation: H. Saito, Q. Chi, H. Zhuang, H. Matsunami, J. D. Mainland, Odor Coding by a Mammalian Receptor Repertoire. Sci. Signal. 2, ra9 (2009).

Read the Full Text

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
SR1, a Mouse Odorant Receptor with an Unusually Broad Response Profile.
X. Grosmaitre, S. H. Fuss, A. C. Lee, K. A. Adipietro, H. Matsunami, P. Mombaerts, and M. Ma (2009)
J. Neurosci. 29, 14545-14552
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Molecular Tuning of Odorant Receptors and Its Implication for Odor Signal Processing.
J. Reisert and D. Restrepo (2009)
Chem Senses 34, 535-545
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »

To Advertise     Find Products

Science Signaling. ISSN 1937-9145 (online), 1945-0877 (print). Pre-2008: Science's STKE. ISSN 1525-8882