Turin L
Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, University College London, UK.
Chem Senses. 1996 Dec;21(6):773-91. doi: 10.1093/chemse/21.6.773.
A novel theory of primary olfactory reception is described. It proposes that olfactory receptors respond not to the shape of the molecules but to their vibrations. It differs from previous vibrational theories (Dyson, Wright) in providing a detailed and plausible mechanism for biological transduction of molecular vibrations: inelastic electron tunnelling. Elements of the tunnelling spectroscope are identified in putative olfactory receptors and their associated G-protein. Means of calculating electron tunnelling spectra of odorant molecules are described. Several examples are given of correlations between tunnelling spectrum and odour in structurally unrelated molecules. As predicted, molecules of very similar shape but differing in vibrations smell different. The most striking instance is that of pure acetophenone and its fully deuterated analogue acetophenone-d8, which smell different despite being identical in structure. This fact cannot, it seems, be explained by structure-based theories of odour. The evidence presented here suggests instead that olfaction, like colour vision and hearing, is a spectral sense.
本文描述了一种关于初级嗅觉接收的新理论。该理论提出，嗅觉受体对分子的振动而非形状做出反应。它与先前的振动理论（戴森、赖特）不同，在于为分子振动的生物转导提供了一个详细且合理的机制：非弹性电子隧穿。在假定的嗅觉受体及其相关的G蛋白中识别出了隧穿光谱仪的元件。描述了计算气味分子电子隧穿光谱的方法。给出了几个在结构上不相关的分子中隧穿光谱与气味之间相关性的例子。正如所预测的，形状非常相似但振动不同的分子气味不同。最引人注目的例子是纯苯乙酮及其完全氘代类似物苯乙酮 - d8，它们尽管结构相同但气味不同。似乎基于结构的气味理论无法解释这一事实。相反，这里提出的证据表明，嗅觉与色觉和听觉一样，是一种光谱感觉。
