In rodents, primary olfactory sensory neurons reside in the psuedostratified olfactory neuroepithelium lining the caudal nasal cavity. Each neuron expresses a single odorant receptor and all neurons expressing the same receptor are typically located in one of four bands of neuroepithelium lining the nasal cavity (Buck and Axel, 1991; Vassar et al., 1993, 1994). While there are ~1000 different o...

Odorant binding proteins (Obps) are remarkable in their number, diversity, and abundance, yet their role in olfactory coding remains unclear. They are widely believed to be required for transporting hydrophobic odorants through an aqueous lymph to odorant receptors. We construct a map of the Drosophila antenna, in which the abundant Obps are mapped to olfactory sensilla with defined functions. ...

The discriminatory capacity of the mammalian olfactory system is such that thousands of volatile chemicals are perceived as having distinct odors. Here we used a combination of calcium imaging and single-cell RT-PCR to identify odorant receptors (ORs) for odorants with related structures but varied odors. We found that one OR recognizes multiple odorants and that one odorant is recognized by mu...

What is the general principle of sensory transduction? Sensory transduction is defined as energy transformation from the external world to the internal world. The energy of the external world, such as thermal energy (heat), electro-magnetic energy (light), mechanical energy (sound) and the energy from molecules (chemicals), is converted into electrochemical events in the animal nervous system. ...

Host-seeking, ovipositional behavior and mating of insects are controlled mainly by odor perception through sensory organs such as antennae. Antennal chemoreception is extremely important for insect survival. Several antennal chemosensory receptors are involved in mediating the odor detection in insects, especially the odorant receptors (ORs) and ionotropic receptors (IRs), to ensure the specif...

Olfaction is a highly sophisticated sensory modality able to detect and discriminate thousands of different odours, even at very low concentration. How such a challenging task is achieved remains to be fully understood. A unique feature of the olfactory system is the dual role of the odorant receptor: it does detect odours in the olfactory epithelium but it also contributes to neuronal circuit ...

We have recorded spiking responses from single, bimodally sensitive local interneurons (Type I) in the crayfish deutocerebrum to hydrodynamic and odorant stimuli flowing in two directions past the lateral antennular flagellum. Changing the direction of seamless introductions (meaning, with minimal variations of fluid velocity magnitude) of odorant flow past the flagellum, from proximal-->distal...

Enantiomers differ only in the left or right handedness (chirality) of their orientations and exhibit identical chemical and physical properties. In chemical communication systems, enantiomers can be differentially active at the physiological and behavioral levels. Only recently were enantioselective odorant receptors demonstrated in mammals while their existence in insects has remained hypothe...