| First Author | Dewan A | Year | 2013 |
| Journal | Nature | Volume | 497 |
| Issue | 7450 | Pages | 486-9 |
| PubMed ID | 23624375 | Mgi Jnum | J:197678 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5494332 | Doi | 10.1038/nature12114 |
| Citation | Dewan A, et al. (2013) Non-redundant coding of aversive odours in the main olfactory pathway. Nature 497(7450):486-9 |
| abstractText | Many species are critically dependent on olfaction for survival. In the main olfactory system of mammals, odours are detected by sensory neurons that express a large repertoire of canonical odorant receptors and a much smaller repertoire of trace amine-associated receptors (TAARs). Odours are encoded in a combinatorial fashion across glomeruli in the main olfactory bulb, with each glomerulus corresponding to a specific receptor. The degree to which individual receptor genes contribute to odour perception is unclear. Here we show that genetic deletion of the olfactory Taar gene family, or even a single Taar gene (Taar4), eliminates the aversion that mice display to low concentrations of volatile amines and to the odour of predator urine. Our findings identify a role for the TAARs in olfaction, namely, in the high-sensitivity detection of innately aversive odours. In addition, our data reveal that aversive amines are represented in a non-redundant fashion, and that individual main olfactory receptor genes can contribute substantially to odour perception. |
