To make the most of a small number of neurons, the nematode olfactory system includes neurons that are bilaterally symmetrical in morphology, but differ in the sets of genes they express. An intriguing recent example is the axon contact-mediated asymmetry in expression of the str-2 odorant receptor gene.

Insect olfactory receptors (ORs) detect chemicals, shape neuronal physiology, and regulate behavior. Although ORs have been categorized as "generalists" and "specialists" based on their ligand spectrum, both electrophysiological studies and recent pharmacological investigations show that ORs specifically recognize non-pheromonal compounds, and that our understanding of odorant-selectivity mirro...

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, functional assessment of ORs in related species remains largely untested. Here we investigated the functional properties of primate and rodent ORs t...

Considerable progress has been made in the understanding of transduction mechanisms in olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs) over the last decade. Odorants pass through a mucus interface before binding to odorant receptors (ORs). The molecular structure of many ORs is now known. They belong to the large class of G protein-coupled receptors with seven transmembrane domains. Binding of an odorant to ...

Olfactory receptors (ORs) are the largest member of the G-protein-coupled receptors which mediate early olfactory perception in discriminating among thousands of odorant molecules. Assigning odorous ligands to ORs is a prerequisite to gaining an understanding of the mechanisms of odorant recognition. The functional expression of ORs represents a critical step in addressing this issue. Due to li...

Tea grey geometrid (Ectropis grisescens), a devastating chewing pest in tea plantations throughout China, produces Type-II pheromone components. Little is known about the genes encoding proteins involved in the perception of Type-II sex pheromone components. To investigate the olfaction genes involved in E. grisescens sex pheromones and plant volatiles perception, we sequenced female and male a...

A unifying feature of mammalian and insect olfactory systems is that olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) expressing the same unique odorant-receptor gene converge onto the same glomeruli in the brain [1-7]. Most odorants activate a combination of receptors and thus distinct patterns of glomeruli, forming a proposed combinatorial spatial code that could support discrimination between a large number...

A recent study in Caenorhabditis elegans identifies the dynamic expression of a single odorant receptor as a molecular mechanism for context-dependent modulation of olfactory preferences and food prioritization.

The discovery of odorant receptors has significantly changed our understanding of how animals identify thousands of odorants. A recent study has shed new light on the central issue of how odor information is translated into meaningful behavior.

The yellow peach moth, Conogethes punctiferalis, is an extremely important polyphagous insect in Asia. The chemosensory systems of moth play an important role in detecting food, oviposition sites and mate attraction. Several antennal chemosensory receptors are involved in odor detection. Our study aims to identify chemosensory receptor genes for potential applications in behavioral responses of...