Abstract
Pheromones elicit specific behavioural responses and physiological alterations in recipients of the same species1. In mammals, these chemical signals are recognized within the nasal cavity by sensory neurons that express pheromone receptors. In rodents, these receptors are thought to be represented by two large multigene families, comprising the V1r and V2r genes, which encode seven-transmembrane proteins2,3,4,5. Although pheromonal effects have been demonstrated in humans6, V1R or V2R counterparts of the rodent genes have yet to be characterized.
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Acknowledgements
We thank J. Yee for technical assistance; D. Ross for assistance in obtaining biopsies of human olfactory mucosa; and T. Bozza, P. Feinstein, L. Stryer, T. Perry and P. Vassalli for critical review. I.R. was supported by postdoctoral fellowships from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Molecular Biology Organization, and the Human Frontier Science Program. Grant support to C.A.G. and P.M. was from the National Institutes of Health, and to P.M. from the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation and Senomyx.
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Rodriguez, I., Greer, C., Mok, M. et al. A putative pheromone receptor gene expressed in human olfactory mucosa . Nat Genet 26, 18–19 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/79124
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/79124
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