Goldman Aaron L, Van der Goes van Naters Wynand, Lessing Derek, Warr Coral G, Carlson John R
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.
Neuron. 2005 Mar 3;45(5):661-6. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2005.01.025.
One of the most fundamental tenets in the field of olfaction is that each olfactory receptor neuron (ORN) expresses a single odorant receptor. However, the one receptor-one neuron principle is difficult to establish rigorously. Here we construct a receptor-to-neuron map for an entire olfactory organ in Drosophila and find that two receptor genes are coexpressed in one class of ORN. Both receptors are functional in an in vivo expression system, they are only 16% identical in amino acid sequence, and the genes that encode them are unlinked. Most importantly, their coexpression has been conserved for >45 million years. Expression of multiple odor receptors in a cell provides an additional degree of freedom for odor coding.
嗅觉领域最基本的原则之一是每个嗅觉受体神经元（ORN）仅表达一种气味受体。然而，“一个受体 - 一个神经元”原则很难得到严格证实。在此，我们构建了果蝇整个嗅觉器官的受体与神经元图谱，发现有两个受体基因在一类ORN中共表达。这两种受体在体内表达系统中均有功能，它们的氨基酸序列仅有16%的同源性，且编码它们的基因没有连锁关系。最重要的是，它们的共表达已经保守存在了超过4500万年。细胞中多种气味受体的表达为气味编码提供了额外的自由度。
