ODORANT RECEPTORS AND OLFACTORY SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT

气味受体和嗅觉系统发育

• 批准号: 6626848
• 负责人: Anupama Arun Dahanukar
• 金额: $ 4.81万
• 依托单位: YALE UNIVERSITY
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2002
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2002-01-01 至
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/6626848
• 关键词: Drosophilidae; Manduca; chemoreceptors; developmental genetics; developmental neurobiology; gene mutation; in situ hybridization; laboratory rabbit; nervous system; odors; olfactory stimulus; receptor expression; transposon /insertion element

In Drosophila, as in vertebrates and caenorhabditis elegans, a large family of odorant receptor genes is responsible for the remarkable discriminatory power of the olfactory system. For this capability, it is essential that the brain discern which of the numerous receptors has been activated by an odorant. Several lines of evidence suggest that odorant receptors themselves may provide a link between the odorant recognition properties of a neuron and its central pattern of connectivity, which may specify perception and behavioral response to a particular odor. While recent results of experiments in the mouse do validate a role for odorant receptors in olfactory system development, the mechanisms by which odorant receptors dictate neuronal connectivity are not understood. The experiments proposed here aim to address this problem using Drosophila as the model system. The experimental approach will be to first characterize the developmental expression of odorant receptors and next to examine the consequences of varying the levels of receptor proteins on development of the olfactory nervous system. These studies will contribute towards the understanding of basic principles of neurobiology.

在果蝇中，与秀丽隐杆线虫一样，大型气味受体基因家族造成了嗅觉系统的显着歧视能力。 对于这种能力，大脑必须辨别众多受体中的哪一个被一种气味激活。 几条证据表明，气味受体本身可能会提供神经元的气味识别特性与其连通性的中心模式之间的联系，这可能指定了对特定气味的感知和行为反应。尽管小鼠实验的最新结果确实验证了气味受体在嗅觉系统开发中的作用，但气味受体决定神经元连通性的机制尚不清楚。 这里提出的实验旨在使用果蝇作为模型系统解决此问题。 实验方法将首先表征气味受体的发育表达，然后检查改变受体蛋白水平对嗅觉神经系统发育水平的后果。 这些研究将有助于理解神经生物学的基本原理。