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Nature 452, 944 (24 April 2008) | doi:10.1038/452944a; Published online 23 April 2008

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Neuroscience: Current views on odour receptors

Alexander Chesler1 & Stuart Firestein1

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Insects possess refined olfactory systems that use specific receptors on their antennae. It emerges that these receptors not only detect odour molecules but, unexpectedly, can also act as ion channels.

All creatures sample their environment for chemicals that indicate the presence of food, mates, predators, dangers and attractions through mechanisms that were thought to be evolutionarily conserved from nematode worms to mammals. For example, in many organisms, odorant molecules bind to their receptors on the surface of neurons, initiating an intracellular signalling cascade.

  1. Alexander Chesler and Stuart Firestein are in the Department of Biological Sciences, Columbia University, 923 Fairchild Center, MC 2438, New York, New York 10027, USA. Alexander Chesler is at present in the Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco.
    Email: sjf24@columbia.edu

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