| First Author | Matsunami H | Year | 1997 |
| Journal | Cell | Volume | 90 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 775-84 |
| PubMed ID | 9288756 | Mgi Jnum | J:42391 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1095671 | Doi | 10.1016/s0092-8674(00)80537-1 |
| Citation | Matsunami H, et al. (1997) A multigene family encoding a diverse array of putative pheromone receptors in mammals. Cell 90(4):775-84 |
| abstractText | 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. |
