Perceptual effects of genetic variation in human odorant receptors

描述（由申请人提供）：嗅觉是一种早期预警系统，用于检测环境危害，如腐败食品，天然气泄漏，烟雾或空气污染。气味在生活质量中也起着重要作用，传递食物的味道， 饮料.这项提案的长期目标是了解在受体水平上气味编码的性质。目前，人们对受体激活模式的变化如何改变嗅觉感知知之甚少。在这里提出的研究中，我们使用下一代测序技术，异源表达系统和人类心理物理学来了解受体基因型，受体功能和嗅觉感知之间的联系。了解将受体活动转化为感知的规则将促进我们对气味编码的理解。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The sense of smell is an early warning system for the detection of environmental hazards such as spoiled food, natural gas leaks, smoke, or airborne pollution. Smells also play an important role in quality of life, imparting the flavor of foods and beverages. The long- term objective of this proposal is to understand the nature of odor coding at the receptor level. Currently, little is known about how changes in the receptor activation pattern alter olfactory perception. In the research proposed here, we use next-generation sequencing techniques, heterologous expression systems, and human psychophysics to understand the links between receptor genotype, receptor function and olfactory perception. Learning the rules for transforming receptor activity into perception will advance our understanding of odor coding.