Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33101, USA.
J Neurochem. 2012 Jun;121(6):881-90. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-4159.2012.07740.x. Epub 2012 Apr 19.
Mammals employ large numbers of odorant receptors to sample and identify volatile chemicals in the environment. These receptors are thought to vary not only in specificity for particular odorants, but also in breadth of tuning. That is, some odorant receptors are narrowly focused on a few closely related structures, while other odorant receptors may be 'broadly tuned', responding to a wide variety of odorant structures. In this study, we have performed a detailed examination the mouse odorant receptor MOR256-17, demonstrating that this receptor is broadly tuned. This receptor responds to odorant structures that span a significant portion of a multi-dimensional odor space. However, we found that broad tuning was not a defining characteristic of other members the MOR256 subfamily. Two additional members of this odorant receptor subfamily (MOR256-8 and MOR256-22) were more narrowly focused on small sets of odorant structures. Interestingly, the receptive range of MOR256-17 encompassed a variety of nitrotoluenes, including various trinitrotoluene synthesis intermediates, degradation products and trinitrotoluene itself, suggesting the potential utility of odorant receptors in the development of sensing technologies for the detection of explosives and other forms of contraband.
哺乳动物利用大量的气味受体来采样和识别环境中的挥发性化学物质。这些受体不仅在对特定气味的特异性上有所不同，而且在调谐的宽度上也有所不同。也就是说，一些气味受体对少数密切相关的结构有严格的选择性，而其他气味受体可能具有“广泛的调谐性”，对各种气味结构都有反应。在这项研究中，我们对小鼠气味受体 MOR256-17 进行了详细的检查，证明了该受体具有广泛的调谐性。该受体对跨越多维气味空间的很大一部分气味结构有反应。然而，我们发现广泛的调谐并不是该 MOR256 亚家族其他成员的特征。该气味受体亚家族的另外两个成员（MOR256-8 和 MOR256-22）对一小部分气味结构的选择性更强。有趣的是，MOR256-17 的感受范围包括各种硝基甲苯，包括各种三硝基甲苯合成中间体、降解产物和三硝基甲苯本身，这表明气味受体在开发用于探测爆炸物和其他形式的违禁品的传感技术方面具有潜在的应用价值。
