Individual olfactory sensory neurons express one or a few odorant receptor isoforms from a repertoire of nearly a thousand. This regulated odorant- receptor gene expression defines the phenotype of a olfactory sensory neuron and is critical to information processing in the olfactory system. The experiments proposed here will test the hypothesis that the decision to express a particular odorant receptor occurs largely in neuronal precursor cells. Neurons descendent from the same precursor will be identified by labeling individual cell genealogies through replication-incompetent retroviral gene transfer. The odorant receptor expression patter of neurons within the same genealogy will be investigated in two ways: 1) Related neurons expressing identical odorant receptors will be identified by analyzing their projection patterns. This experiment relies on the assumption that all olfactory sensory neurons expressing the same odorant receptor project to the same one or two glomeruli. 2) The odorant receptor isoform(s) expressed by related neurons will be determined by cloning odorant receptor cDNA from single-single cDNA libraries. By comparing the odorant receptors expressed by neurons in the same genealogy we will determine whether neurons arising from the same basal cell express the same or closely related odorant receptors, or whether they express different and unrelated odorant receptors.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)
Type
Postdoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F32)
Project #
5F32DC000400-03
Application #
6379251
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-IFCN-5 (04))
Program Officer
Sklare, Dan
Project Start
2001-05-01
Project End
Budget Start
2001-05-01
Budget End
2002-04-30
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2001
Total Cost
$45,560
Indirect Cost
Name
Columbia University (N.Y.)
Department
Biology
Type
Other Domestic Higher Education
DUNS #
064931884
City
New York
State
NY
Country
United States
Zip Code
10027