Abstract
The vomeronasal organ of mammals is an olfactory sensory structure that detects pheromones. It contains two subsets of sensory neurons that differentially express G alpha(o) and G alpha(i2). By comparing gene expression in single neurons, we identified a novel multigene family that codes for a diverse array of candidate pheromone receptors (VRs) expressed by the G alpha(o)+ subset. Different VRs are expressed by different neurons, but those neurons are interspersed, suggesting a distributed mode of sensory coding. Chromosome mapping experiments suggest an evolutionary connection between genes encoding VRs and receptors for volatile odorants. However, a dramatically different structure for VRs and the existence of variant VR mRNA forms indicate that there are diverse strategies to detect functionally distinct sensory stimuli.
Publication types
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Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
MeSH terms
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Amino Acid Sequence
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Animals
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Chemoreceptor Cells*
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Chromosome Mapping
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Cloning, Molecular
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunit, Gi2
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go*
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GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism
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Genetic Linkage
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Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins*
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In Situ Hybridization
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Male
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Mice
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Mice, Inbred C57BL
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Molecular Sequence Data
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Multigene Family*
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Neurons, Afferent / chemistry
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins / metabolism
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Vomeronasal Organ / chemistry*
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Vomeronasal Organ / cytology
Substances
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits
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Proto-Oncogene Proteins
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olfactory G protein subunit alpha olf
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GTP-Binding Proteins
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunit, Gi2
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GTP-Binding Protein alpha Subunits, Gi-Go
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Gnai2 protein, mouse
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Heterotrimeric GTP-Binding Proteins
Associated data
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GENBANK/AF011411
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GENBANK/AF011412
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GENBANK/AF011413
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GENBANK/AF011414
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GENBANK/AF011415
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GENBANK/AF011416
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GENBANK/AF011417
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GENBANK/AF011418
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GENBANK/AF011419
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GENBANK/AF011420
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GENBANK/AF011421
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GENBANK/AF011422
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GENBANK/AF011423
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GENBANK/AF011424
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GENBANK/AF011425
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GENBANK/AF011426