bioRxiv · 10.1101/074872
Variation in olfactory neuron repertoires is genetically controlled and environmentally modulated
Abstract
The mouse olfactory sensory neuron (OSN) repertoire is composed of 10 million cells and each expresses one olfactory receptor (OR) gene from a pool of over 1000. Thus, the nose is sub-stratified into more than a thousand OSN subtypes. Here, we employ and validate an RNA-sequencing based method to quantify the abundance of all OSN subtypes in parallel, and investigate the genetic and environmental factors that contribute to neuronal diversity. We find that the OSN subtype distribution is stereotyped in genetically identical mice, but varies extensively between different strains. Further, we identify cis-acting genetic variation as the greatest component influencing OSN composition and demonstrate independence from OR function. However, we show that olfactory stimulation with particular odorants results in modulation of dozens of OSN subtypes in a subtle but reproducible, specific and time-dependent manner. Together, these mechanisms generate a highly individualized olfactory sensory system by promoting neuronal diversity.
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Ximena Ibarra-Soria, Thiago S Nakahara, Jingtao Lilue, Yue Jiang, Casey Trimmer, Mateus A.A. Souza, Paulo H.M. Netto, Kentaro Ikegami, Nicolle R Murphy, Mairi Kusma, Andrea Kirton, Luis R Saraiva, Thomas M Keane, Hiroaki Matsunami, Joel D Mainland, Fabio Papes, Darren W Logan. 2016-09-13. Variation in olfactory neuron repertoires is genetically controlled and environmentally modulated. https://doi.org/10.1101/074872
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