Pharmacology of Mammalian Olfactory Receptors
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Mammalian species have evolved a large and diverse number of odorant receptors (ORs). These proteins comprise the largest
family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) known, amounting to ∼1,000 �different receptors in the rodent. From the perspective
of olfactory coding, the availability of such a vast number of chemosensory receptors poses several fascinating questions;
in addition, such a large repertoire provides an attractive biological model to study ligand–receptor interactions. The limited
functional expression of these receptors in heterologous systems, however, has greatly hampered attempts to deorphanize them.
We have employed a successful approach that combines electrophysiological and imaging techniques to analyze the response profiles
of single sensory neurons. Our approach has enabled us to characterize the “odor space” of a population of native aldehyde
receptors and the molecular range of a genetically engineered receptor, OR-I7.
