The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA.
BMC Biol. 2012 Aug 21;10:75. doi: 10.1186/1741-7007-10-75.
Chemosensory receptor genes encode G protein-coupled receptors with which animals sense their chemical environment. The large number of chemosensory receptor genes in the genome and their extreme genetic variability pose unusual challenges for understanding their evolution and function. Two articles in BMC Genomics explore the genetic variation of chemosensory receptor gene repertoires in humans and mice and provide unparalleled insight into the causes and consequences of this variability.
化感受体基因编码与动物感知其化学环境相关的 G 蛋白偶联受体。基因组中大量的化感受体基因及其极端的遗传变异性给理解它们的进化和功能带来了特殊的挑战。BMC 基因组学的两篇文章探讨了人类和小鼠化感受体基因库的遗传变异，并为这种变异性的原因和后果提供了前所未有的深入了解。
