Premium
Evolution of odorant receptors
Author(s) -
Dryer Laurence
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
bioessays
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.175
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1521-1878
pISSN - 0265-9247
DOI - 10.1002/1521-1878(200009)22:9<803::aid-bies5>3.0.co;2-k
Subject(s) - biology , drosophila melanogaster , chemoreceptor , caenorhabditis elegans , evolutionary biology , g protein coupled receptor , sensory system , melanogaster , phylum , receptor , olfactory receptor , olfaction , gene , genetics , transduction (biophysics) , gene family , neuroscience , genome , biochemistry
Odorant receptors (ORs) located in the nasal epithelium, at the ciliated surface of olfactory sensory neurons, represent the initial step of a transduction cascade that leads to odor detection. ORs form the largest and most diverse family of G‐protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs). They are encoded by a multigene family that has been partially characterized in cyclostomes, teleosts, amphibia, birds and mammals, as well as in Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans . As new sequence data emerge, it is increasingly clear that OR primary structure can vary dramatically across phyla. Some chemoreceptors are encoded by genes with little sequence similarity to the prototypical ORs originally isolated in mammals. A large number of sequences are now available allowing a detailed study of the evolutionary implications of OR diversity across species. This review discusses the evolutionary implications of the divergent primary structures of chemoreceptors with identical functions. BioEssays 22:803–810, 2000. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.