Abstract
Chemical communication is mediated by signal production and signal perception and in house mice (Mus musculus), both processes involve lipocalin proteins (OBP, MUP, LCN) that transport volatiles and protect them in tissues where they are produced. However, potential roles of lacrimal, nasal, and salivary lipocalins are still not well known. We aimed to determine the expression of the recently described family of odorant binding proteins (Obp), along with major urinary proteins (Mup) across different tissues in wild mice (Mus musculus) to assess the importance of these proteins based on their quantity in particular expression sites. We performed qPCR analysis of selected Mup, Lcn, Obp genes, and predicted Obp members to study their expression in selected tissues. We identified new members of the mouse odorant binding protein gene family in two subspecies, M. m. musculus and M. m. domesticus. We show that Mup4 and Mup5 from the phylogenetically older group-A are co-expressed with Obps in orofacial tissues. We also identified a sexually dimorphic pattern of female-biased Obp7 and male-biased Mup4 expression in lacrimal glands. OBPs, MUPs, and LCNs are produced in parallel, which may function to widen the spectrum of bound ligands, potentially including the degradation products of olfactory signals and/or toxic compounds. Moreover, our study demonstrates that several pheromone transporters from the lipocalin family are co-expressed in the nasal and lacrimal tissues of mice with the newly detected OBPs that further expand the already diverse mouse lipocalin family.
Highlights
John Maynard Smith and David Harper defined signal as “...any act or structure which alters the behaviour of other organisms, which evolved because of that effect, and which is effective because the receiver’s response has evolved” (Maynard Smith and Harper, 2003)
We have identified several abundant lipocalins (Figure 2): OBP5 (Odorant binding protein 1a, gi|1835143), LCN11 (Lipocalin 11, gi|154689678), MUP5 (Major urinary protein 5 precursor, gi|113930708), and highly similar group-B major urinary proteins (MUPs) with the most likely identification provided in Data Sheet 1
We have sequenced all odorant binding proteins (Obp) predicted transcripts in wild mice from pooled oro-facial tissues using primers generated from C57BL/6 genomic data and provided specific product names based on their chromosomal position
Summary
John Maynard Smith and David Harper defined signal as “...any act or structure which alters the behaviour of other organisms, which evolved because of that effect, and which is effective because the receiver’s response has evolved” (Maynard Smith and Harper, 2003). Lipocalins in Chemical Communication of the signaler (Thonhauser et al, 2013) due to strong effects on reproductive physiology of the receiver (Whitten et al, 1968; Roberts et al, 2004; Stopka et al, 2007; Janotova and Stopka, 2011) through chemosensory receptors of the main olfactory and vomeronasal organs (Moss et al, 1997; Luo and Katz, 2004). Since the discovery of the structure and function of olfactory receptors GPCRs—G-protein coupled receptors (Buck and Axel, 1991), research on chemical communication has concentrated on signal reception by nasal and vomeronasal chemosensory neuronal receptors, and on lipocalin transporters of pheromones. MUPs have been reported to be expressed in several tissues other than the liver (Shaw et al, 1983; Shahan et al, 1987a; Cavaggioni et al, 1999; Utsumi et al, 1999; Karn and Laukaitis, 2011), though their functions are not understood
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