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Nature 430, 511-512 (29 July 2004) | doi:10.1038/430511a; Published online 28 July 2004

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Neurobiology:  Odorant receptors make scents

Rainer W. Friedrich1

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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.

  1. 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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