Theory to identify odorants which evoke innate fear/attractive behaviors to wild animals

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Using genetic manipulation method, we have clarified that the olfactory neural pathway which originates from the dorsal olfactory bulb innately regulates fear responses to predator odorants. By focusing on the neural pathway which induces fear responses to odorants, we identified a series of odorants named "fear odors" which have more than 10 times stronger bioactivity than TMT with respect to inducing freezing behaviors. By use of "fear odorants" we developed biological markers which can distinguish innate and fear responses. As a result, we clarified that cutaneous/core body temperature and heart rate is specifically changed in innate fear responses. We also identified serum "fear markers" which change during innate fear responses.We constructed expression libraries of murine odorant receptors and screened for odorant receptors which interact with odorants that can induce innate fear responses in mice. We identified multiple odorant receptors which specifically interact with odorants that can induce prominent fear responses in mice. We then analyzed whether "fear odorants," which can induce fear responses in mice, also induce fear responses in other animal species. We observed "fear odorants" can induce prominent fear responses not only in mice but also in some animal species including deer.