PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Dewan, Adam
AU  - Cichy, Annika
AU  - Zhang, Jingji
AU  - Miguel, Kayla
AU  - Feinstein, Paul
AU  - Rinberg, Dmitry
AU  - Bozza, Thomas
TI  - Single olfactory receptors set odor detection thresholds
AID  - 10.1101/341099
DP  - 2018 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 341099
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/07/341099.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/06/07/341099.full
AB  - 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.