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Drawing the Borders of Olfactory Space

View ORCID ProfileEmily J. Mayhew, Charles J. Arayata, View ORCID ProfileRichard C. Gerkin, Brian K. Lee, Jonathan M. Magill, Lindsey L. Snyder, Kelsie A. Little, Chung Wen Yu, View ORCID ProfileJoel D. Mainland
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.04.412254
Emily J. Mayhew
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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  • For correspondence: emayhew@monell.org
Charles J. Arayata
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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Richard C. Gerkin
2School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA
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Brian K. Lee
3Google Research, Brain Team, 355 Main St, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
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Jonathan M. Magill
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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Lindsey L. Snyder
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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Kelsie A. Little
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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Chung Wen Yu
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
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Joel D. Mainland
1Monell Chemical Senses Center, Philadelphia, PA 10104, USA
4Department of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
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Abstract

In studies of vision and audition, stimuli can be chosen to span the visible or audible spectrum; in olfaction, the axes and boundaries defining the analogous odorous space are unknown. Features governing the physical transport of molecules to olfactory receptors are sufficient to reliably classify novel molecules as odorous or odorless (AUROC = 0.97). Applying this model to a database of all possible small organic molecules, we estimate that over 30 billion possible compounds are odorous, 6 orders of magnitude larger than current estimates of 10,000. Remarkably, nearly all transport-capable molecules are odorous, suggesting broad collective tuning of olfactory receptors. Defining the boundaries of odor perception will enable design of experiments that representatively sample olfactory space and efficient search for novel odor compounds.

Competing Interest Statement

J.D.M. received research funding from Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY 4.0 International license.
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Posted December 06, 2020.
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Drawing the Borders of Olfactory Space
Emily J. Mayhew, Charles J. Arayata, Richard C. Gerkin, Brian K. Lee, Jonathan M. Magill, Lindsey L. Snyder, Kelsie A. Little, Chung Wen Yu, Joel D. Mainland
bioRxiv 2020.12.04.412254; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.04.412254
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Drawing the Borders of Olfactory Space
Emily J. Mayhew, Charles J. Arayata, Richard C. Gerkin, Brian K. Lee, Jonathan M. Magill, Lindsey L. Snyder, Kelsie A. Little, Chung Wen Yu, Joel D. Mainland
bioRxiv 2020.12.04.412254; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.12.04.412254

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