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The Journal of Neuroscience, February 1, 2001, 21(3):843-848
Co-Expression of Putative Pheromone Receptors in the Sensory
Neurons of the Vomeronasal Organ
Sara
Martini1,
Lucia
Silvotti1,
Arild
Shirazi2,
Nicholas J. P.
Ryba2, and
Roberto
Tirindelli1
1 Istituto di Fisiologia Umana, Universita' di Parma,
I-43100 Parma, Italy and 2 National Institute of Dental and
Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda,
Maryland 20892
Two large and divergent families of G-protein-coupled receptors
(V1Rs and V2Rs) are expressed in subsets of neurons in the vomeronasal
organ. These receptors are likely to mediate pheromone responses, but
it appears that many V2R genes may encode expressed pseudogenes rather
than functional proteins. Therefore we have raised antibodies to
representative V2Rs and show labeling of vomeronasal neurons
demonstrating that V2R genes encode expressed receptors. V2R
immunoreactivity was detected at the sensory surface of the vomeronasal
organ in dendritic terminals, indicating that these receptors are
capable of directly interacting with pheromones and mediating
physiological responses. Immunohistochemistry confirmed that three V2R
receptors are expressed in small subsets of sensory neurons. However,
surprisingly we found that a subfamily of V2R genes is broadly
expressed in the Go -layer of the vomeronasal organ and are
coexpressed in the same cells as other V2Rs. This is in direct contrast
to the main olfactory epithelium where sensory neurons express only a
single receptor. Thus, our results suggest that different modes of the
information processing may occur in the main and accessory olfactory systems.
Key words:
vomeronasal organ; pheromone receptors; G-protein-coupled
receptors; immunohistochemistry; coexpression; olfaction; pheromone; receptors and signal transduction; chemosensory receptors; sensory
coding
Copyright © 2001 Society for Neuroscience 0270-6474/01/213843-06$05.00/0
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