BB - DIfE

12
�6 Dr. Behrens, research scientist of the
department, analyzing tissue samples.
Our main objective is the cloning of the
complete set of human OR and the identification
of their cognate odorants. To
this end, we have first developed the
HeLa/Olf cell system, a functional
expression system partly based on
transduction pathways of olfactory
sensory neurons. This system measures
receptor activation, upon exposure of
the OR expressing cells to hundreds of
odorants, by Ca 2+ imaging technology in
a (semi-)high-throughput approach.
So far, we have cloned 109 OR and
tested 93 of them in the HeLa/Olf cell
system against key food odorants. We
identified 11 OR that responded selectively
to (+)-carvone (dill) or (-)-carvone
(peppermint), 1-octen-3-on (mushroom),
citronellal, and citronellol (citrus).
For all five human VN1R pheromone
receptors, we identified aliphatic alcohols
or aldehydes with chain lengths of
9–11 carbon atoms as specific agonists,
some of which are key food odorants in
orange juice or cooked rice, but also
appear in human sweat (Fig. �5 ). These
findings suggest a dual function of
some volatiles as odorants and
pheromones, presumably via activation
of different receptor classes. All receptors
that we identified detect odorants
in a combinatorial way, i.e., one receptor
is activated by several odorants and
one odorant activates several receptors.
�6 Dr. Behrens, wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter der Abteilung, bei der Analyse von
Gewebeschnitten.
auch Pheromon wirken können. Alle von
uns identifizierten OR weisen eine kombinatorische
Geruchsstofferkennung auf,
dergestalt, dass ein Rezeptor durch mehrere
Geruchsstoffe aktiviert wird, und
umgekehrt ein Geruchsstoff mehrere
Rezeptoren aktiviert.
Technische Mitarbeiter/innen
Elke Chudoba
Stefanie Demgensky
Ulrike Lerner
Horst Maischack
Ellen Schöley-Pohl
Renate Schröder
Stefanie Schultz