1. Detection of pup odors by non-canonical adult vomeronasal neurons expressing an odorant receptor gene is influenced by sex and parenting status
- Author
-
Guilherme Ziegler Trintinalia, Darren W. Logan, Thiago S. Nakahara, Leonardo M. Cardozo, Ximena Ibarra-Soria, Andrew D. Bard, Vinicius M. A. Carvalho, and Fabio Papes
- Subjects
Male ,0301 basic medicine ,Olfactory system ,Pup odors ,Vomeronasal organ ,Physiology ,Gene Expression ,Plant Science ,Receptors, Odorant ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,Structural Biology ,Social behavior ,Receptor ,Sex Characteristics ,Behavior, Animal ,Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all) ,Anatomy ,Aggression ,Smell ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,Female ,medicine.symptom ,General Agricultural and Biological Sciences ,Research Article ,Biotechnology ,Sensory Receptor Cells ,Sensory system ,Olfaction ,Biology ,General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology ,Sexual dimorphism ,03 medical and health sciences ,medicine ,Animals ,Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics ,Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology(all) ,Cell Biology ,Mice, Inbred C57BL ,030104 developmental biology ,Animals, Newborn ,Odorants ,Odorant receptor ,Olfactory epithelium ,Neuroscience ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Developmental Biology - Abstract
Background Olfaction is a fundamental sense through which most animals perceive the external world. The olfactory system detects odors via specialized sensory organs such as the main olfactory epithelium and the vomeronasal organ. Sensory neurons in these organs use G-protein coupled receptors to detect chemosensory stimuli. The odorant receptor (OR) family is expressed in sensory neurons of the main olfactory epithelium, while the adult vomeronasal organ is thought to express other types of receptors. Results Here, we describe Olfr692, a member of the OR gene family identified by next-generation RNA sequencing, which is highly upregulated and non-canonically expressed in the vomeronasal organ. We show that neurons expressing this gene are activated by odors emanating from pups. Surprisingly, activity in Olfr692-positive cells is sexually dimorphic, being very low in females. Our results also show that juvenile odors activate a large number of Olfr692 vomeronasal neurons in virgin males, which is correlated with the display of infanticide behavior. . In contrast, activity substantially decreases in parenting males (fathers), where infanticidal aggressive behavior is not frequently observed. Conclusions Our results describe, for the first time, a sensory neural population with a specific molecular identity involved in the detection of pup odors. Moreover, it is one of the first reports of a group of sensory neurons the activity of which is sexually dimorphic and depends on social status. Our data suggest that the Olfr692 population is involved in mediating pup-oriented behaviors in mice. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-016-0234-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
- Published
- 2016
- Full Text
- View/download PDF