My research proposal is designed to investigate what post-translational modifications odorant receptors undergo, and how these modifications contribute to their trafficking both in their native cell type, olfactory neurons, and in heterologous cells. Odorant receptors are notoriously difficult to express on the plasma membrane of cells in culture; the study of post-translational modification will provide valuable information to the field of GPCR biology in general and odorant receptor biology in particular. In addition, this information may be exploited to develop a heterologous cell system in which to express these molecules where their pharmacology can be more easily studied. The research plan is to extensively study post-translation modification patterns in different cell types, and make use of this and previous knowledge to design a heterologous expression system involving chimeric receptors and/or chaperones. We will concurrently conduct preliminary experiments using chimeras with the expectation that the two avenues of research will intersect. This proposal combines intensive hypothesis-driven research into fundamental aspects odorant receptor biology and rationally designed attempts to develop a novel expression system.
