Regulation of Olfactory Transduction in the Orco Channel

Fernando Martin,Esther Alcorta

doi:10.3389/fncel.2011.00021

Abstract

Regulation of Olfactory Transduction in the Orco Channel

Highlights

Following the discovery of olfactory receptors (ORs) in 1999 (Clyne et al, 1999; Vosshall et al, 1999), our understanding of the first steps in olfactory coding in Drosophila melanogaster has grown exponentially
It was found that the ligandbinding ORs and their common OR83b coreceptor, which form a heterodimer, exhibit an inverted topology compared to other G protein coupled receptors (Benton et al, 2006; Lundin et al, 2007)
In 2008, two papers published in Nature reported the use of heterologous systems transfected with Orco and one of the ORs to show that this heterodimer can act in an ionotropic manner (Sato et al, 2008; Wicher et al, 2008)

Summary

Introduction

Following the discovery of olfactory receptors (ORs) in 1999 (Clyne et al, 1999; Vosshall et al, 1999), our understanding of the first steps in olfactory coding in Drosophila melanogaster has grown exponentially. This structural description of olfactory sensory elements has been followed by the functional characterization of the olfactory profiles of different ORs expressed in the so-called “empty neuron” system (Hallem and Carlson, 2006) as well as in their native OSNs (de Bruyne et al, 2001; Hallem et al, 2004).

Results

Conclusion