Comparative Evaluation of Sensitivity to Hexanal Between Human and Canine Olfactory Receptors

Sang Won Cho, Tai Hyun Park

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is known that a dog possesses much better sense of smell than a human. It has been reported that a dog has advantages (compared to a human) in the number of olfactory receptor (OR) genes, proteins and cells, and also nasal structure. However, a definitive reason for superior sensitivity of the canine olfactory system remains controversial. In this study, we compared sensitivity of human and canine olfactory receptors relative to the same condition. Human OR (hOR2W1) and canine OR (cfOR0312), previously identified to recognize hexanal, were inserted to the pcDNA3 vector. This vector was transfected to HEK293 cells. Hexanal-discriminating ability of ORs was confirmed using Fura-2 AM, a dye which illuminates when binding to calcium ions flowing into cells once olfactory signaling occurs. Consequently, cfOR0312 was more sensitive to hexanal than hOR2W1. Comparison of OR sensitivity would be one of the major factors in clarifying difference of sensitivity between human and canine olfactory systems.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1007-1012
Number of pages6
JournalBiotechnology and Bioprocess Engineering
Volume24
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Nov 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering and Springer.

Keywords

  • canine olfactory receptor
  • hexanal
  • human olfactory receptor
  • olfactory receptor sensitivity

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