Dulac C, Axel R
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Chem Senses. 1998 Aug;23(4):467-75. doi: 10.1093/chemse/23.4.467.
In mammals, olfactory sensory perception is mediated by two anatomically and functionally distinct organs: the main olfactory epithelium (MOE) and the vomeronasal organ (VON). Pheromones activate the VNO and elicit a characteristic array of innate reproductive and social behaviors, along with dramatic neuroendocrine responses. Recent approaches have provided new insights into the molecular biology of sensory transduction in the VNO. Differential screening of cDNA libraries constructed from single sensory neurons from the rat VNO has led to the isolation of a family of genes which are likely to encode mammalian pheromone receptors. The isolation of these receptors from the VNO might permit the analysis of the molecular events which translate the bindings of pheromones into innate stereotypic behaviors and help to elucidate the logic of pheromone perception in mammals.
在哺乳动物中，嗅觉感知由两个在解剖学和功能上截然不同的器官介导：主嗅觉上皮（MOE）和犁鼻器（VNO）。信息素激活犁鼻器并引发一系列特有的先天性生殖和社会行为，以及显著的神经内分泌反应。最近的研究方法为犁鼻器感觉转导的分子生物学提供了新的见解。对从大鼠犁鼻器单个感觉神经元构建的cDNA文库进行差异筛选，已导致分离出一个可能编码哺乳动物信息素受体的基因家族。从犁鼻器中分离出这些受体可能有助于分析将信息素结合转化为先天性刻板行为的分子事件，并有助于阐明哺乳动物信息素感知的逻辑。
