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Nature 430, 511-512 (29 July 2004) | doi:10.1038/430511a; Published online 28 July 2004
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Postdoctoral Research Fellows
- Northwestern University
- Chicago, Illinois, United States
Assistant or Associate Professor of Neurobiology
- Medical College of Georgia
- Augusta, GA United States
Neurobiology: Odorant receptors make scents
Rainer W. Friedrich1
Abstract
The goal of making sense of the sense of smell has come a step closer. Work on fruitflies reveals that odorant receptors act as bidirectional chemical detectors and determine the function of sensory neurons.
Olfaction, once thought to be a primitive sense, is now recognized as an elaborate sensory system that deploys a large family of odorant receptors to analyse the chemical environment. Interactions between these receptors and their diverse ligands translate the world of odours into a neural code, but the mechanisms governing this complex process are not totally understood.
- Rainer W. Friedrich is at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research, Department of Biomedical Optics, Jahnstrasse 29, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
e-mail: Email: rainer.friedrich@mpimf-heidelberg.mpg.de
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