Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Single olfactory receptors set odor detection thresholds

Adam Dewan, Annika Cichy, Jingji Zhang, Kayla Miguel, Paul Feinstein, Dmitry Rinberg, View ORCID ProfileThomas Bozza
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/341099
Adam Dewan
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Annika Cichy
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jingji Zhang
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Kayla Miguel
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Paul Feinstein
2Department of Biology, Hunter College
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Dmitry Rinberg
3NYU Neuroscience Institute, New York University Langone Medical Center
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Thomas Bozza
1Department of Neurobiology, Northwestern University
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Thomas Bozza
  • For correspondence: bozza@northwestern.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

ABSTRACT

In many species, survival depends on olfaction, yet the mechanisms that underlie olfactory sensitivity are not well understood. Here, we examine how a conserved subset of olfactory receptors, the trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs) determine odor detection thresholds of mice to amines. We find that deleting all TAARs, or even single TAARs, results in significant odor detection deficits. This finding is not limited to TAARs, as the deletion of a canonical odorant receptor reduced behavioral sensitivity to its preferred ligand. Remarkably, behavioral threshold is set solely by the most sensitive receptor, with no contribution from other highly sensitive receptors. In addition, increasing the number of sensory neurons (and glomeruli) expressing a threshold-determining TAAR does not improve detection, indicating that sensitivity is not limited by the typical complement of sensory neurons. Our findings demonstrate that olfactory thresholds are set by the single highest affinity receptor, and suggest that TAARs are evolutionarily conserved because they determine the sensitivity to a class of biologically relevant chemicals.

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-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted June 07, 2018.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Single olfactory receptors set odor detection thresholds
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Single olfactory receptors set odor detection thresholds
Adam Dewan, Annika Cichy, Jingji Zhang, Kayla Miguel, Paul Feinstein, Dmitry Rinberg, Thomas Bozza
bioRxiv 341099; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/341099
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Single olfactory receptors set odor detection thresholds
Adam Dewan, Annika Cichy, Jingji Zhang, Kayla Miguel, Paul Feinstein, Dmitry Rinberg, Thomas Bozza
bioRxiv 341099; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/341099

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Neuroscience
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4108)
  • Biochemistry (8811)
  • Bioengineering (6514)
  • Bioinformatics (23454)
  • Biophysics (11787)
  • Cancer Biology (9205)
  • Cell Biology (13317)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7433)
  • Ecology (11407)
  • Epidemiology (2066)
  • Evolutionary Biology (15145)
  • Genetics (10433)
  • Genomics (14039)
  • Immunology (9169)
  • Microbiology (22150)
  • Molecular Biology (8807)
  • Neuroscience (47556)
  • Paleontology (350)
  • Pathology (1428)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2490)
  • Physiology (3730)
  • Plant Biology (8078)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1437)
  • Synthetic Biology (2220)
  • Systems Biology (6037)
  • Zoology (1252)