How Cells in the Nose Detect Odors
Now a team of scientists, led by neurobiologists at the University of California, Riverside, has an explanation. Focusing on the olfactory receptor for detecting carbon dioxide in Drosophila (fruit fly), the researchers identified a large multi-protein complex in olfactory neurons, called MMB/dREAM, that plays a major role in selecting the carbon dioxide receptors to be expressed in appropriate neurons.
Study results appear in the Nov. 15 issue of Genes & Development. The research is featured on the cover of the issue.
According to the researchers, a molecular mechanism first blocks the expression of most olfactory receptor genes (~60) in the fly’s antennae. This mechanism, which acts like a brake, relies on repressive histones —proteins that tightly wrap DNA around them. All insects and mammals are equipped with this mechanism, which keeps the large families of olfactory receptor genes repressed.
“How, then, do you release this brake so that only the carbon dioxide receptor is expressed in the carbon dioxide neuron while the remaining receptors are repressed?” said Anandasankar Ray, an assistant professor of entomology, whose lab conducted the research. “Our lab, in collaboration with a lab at Stanford University, has found that the MMB/dREAM multi-protein complex can act on the genes of the carbon dioxide receptors and de-repress the braking mechanism — akin to taking the foot off the brake pedal. This allows these neurons to express the receptors and respond to carbon dioxide.”
Ray explained that one way to understand the mechanism in operation is to consider a typewriter. When none of the keys are pressed, a spring mechanism or “brake” can be imagined to hold the type bars away from the paper. When a key is pressed, however, the brake on that key is overcome and the appropriate letter is typed onto the paper. And just as typing only one letter in one spot is important for each letter to be recognized, expressing one receptor in one neuron lets different sensor types to be generated in the nose.
