Fuchs T, Glusman G, Horn-Saban S, Lancet D, Pilpel Y
Department of Molecular Genetics and the Crown Human Genome Center, The Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel.
Hum Genet. 2001 Jan;108(1):1-13. doi: 10.1007/s004390000436.
Olfactory receptors (ORs) constitute the largest multigene family in multicellular organisms. Their evolutionary proliferation has been driven by the need to provide recognition capacity for millions of potential odorants with arbitrary chemical configurations. Human genome sequencing has provided a highly informative picture of the "olfactory subgenome", the repertoire of OR genes. We describe here an analysis of 224 human OR genes, a much larger number than hitherto systematically analyzed. These are derived by literature survey, data mining at 14 genomic clusters, and by an OR-targeted experimental sequencing strategy. The presented set contains at least 53% pseudogenes and is minimally divided into 11 gene families. One of these (no. 7) has undergone a particularly extensive expansion in primates. The analysis of this collection leads to insight into the origin of OR genes, suggesting a graded expansion through mammalian evolution. It also allows us to delineate a structural map of the respective proteins. A sequence database and analysis package is provided (http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il/HORDE), which will be useful for analyzing human OR sequences genome-wide.
嗅觉受体（ORs）构成了多细胞生物中最大的多基因家族。它们在进化过程中的增殖是由识别数百万种具有任意化学结构的潜在气味分子的需求驱动的。人类基因组测序为“嗅觉亚基因组”（OR基因库）提供了极具参考价值的图景。我们在此描述了对224个人类OR基因的分析，这一数量比以往系统分析的数量要多得多。这些基因是通过文献调研、对14个基因组簇的数据挖掘以及一种针对OR的实验性测序策略获得的。所呈现的基因集至少包含53%的假基因，并且最少可分为11个基因家族。其中一个家族（第7号）在灵长类动物中经历了特别广泛的扩张。对这个基因集的分析有助于深入了解OR基因的起源，表明其在哺乳动物进化过程中呈分级扩张。这也使我们能够勾勒出相应蛋白质的结构图。我们提供了一个序列数据库和分析软件包（http://bioinformatics.weizmann.ac.il/HORDE），它将有助于在全基因组范围内分析人类OR序列。
