Analysis of Odorant Receptor Genes

本研究的目的是阐明嗅觉系统的功能和组织的基本原理。在 特别是，它试图解释气味编码的逻辑和气味的分子组织。 编码它们的系统。实验计划利用果蝇Drosophila melanogaster 作为一个模型系统，它允许精辟的分子遗传分析和生理测量， 单个的嗅觉细胞 该项目通过三个具体目标来解决气味编码的分子和细胞逻辑。第一 目的是确定几乎所有的触角的反应谱和时间动态 受体相对于一组100种气味剂在体内表达系统中，并确定是否 接收器可以执行简单的逻辑操作。其目的是解决核心问题， 气味编码的机制 第二个目标是将气味受体映射到神经元，目的是测试一个人在多大程度上 受体一神经元规则描述嗅觉系统组织。 第三个目的是检验气味受体基因家族的两个成员编码的假设 抑制交配行为的信息素受体。 昆虫携带的疾病每年折磨着数亿人，其中许多昆虫 通过嗅觉来定位它们的人类宿主和配偶在认识上的进展 嗅觉和信息素的接收可能会导致新的手段来控制这些昆虫媒介的人类 疾病

The goal of this project is to elucidate basic principles of olfactory system function and organization. In particular, it seeks to explain the logic by which odors are encoded and the molecular organization of the system that encodes them. The experimental plan takes advantage of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model system, which allows incisive molecular genetic analysis and physiological measurement of individual olfactory cells. The project addresses the molecular and cellular logic of odor coding through three specific aims. The first aim is to define the response spectrum and temporal dynamics of virtually the entire repertoire of antennal receptors with respect to a panel of 100 odorants in an in vivo expression system, and to determine whether the receptors can carry out simple logical operations. The aim is designed to address central questions about the mechanism of odor coding. The second aim is to map odor receptors to neurons, with the goal of testing the extent to which the one receptor-one neuron rule describes olfactory system organization. The third aim is to test the hypothesis that two members of the odor receptor gene family encode pheromone receptors that suppress mating behavior. Diseases carried by insects afflict hundreds of millions of people every year, and many of these insects locate their human hosts and their mates through olfactory cues. Advances in the understanding of olfactory and pheromonal reception could lead to new means of controlling these insect vectors of human disease.