Abstract
In most mammals, intraspecies communication relies heavily on the vomeronasal system and its ability to detect pheromones1. Vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) express G protein–coupled, seven-transmembrane receptors from either the V1r or V2r superfamilies2,3,4,5, which represent the only candidate pheromone receptors in mammals. Here, we show at the single-cell level that V1r receptors are involved in chemodetection and identify a specific receptor–agonist pair in the vomeronasal system.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$209.00 per year
only $17.42 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Halpern, M. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 10, 325–362 (1987).
Dulac, C. & Axel, R. Cell 83, 195–206 (1995).
Ryba, N.J.P. & Tirindelli, R. Neuron 19, 371–379 (1997).
Matsunami, H. & Buck, L. Cell 90, 775–784 (1997).
Herrada, G. & Dulac, C. Cell 90, 763–773 (1997).
Rodriguez, I., Del Punta, K., Rothman, A., Ishii, T. & Mombaerts, P. Nat. Neurosci. 5, 134–140 (2002).
Rodriguez, I., Feinstein, P. & Mombaerts, P. Cell 97, 199–208 (1999).
Belluscio, L. et al. Cell 97, 209–220 (1999).
Del Punta, K. et al. Nature 419, 70–74 (2002).
Bozza, T., Feinstein, P., Zheng, C. & Mombaerts, P. J. Neurosci. 22, 3033–3043 (2002).
Leinders-Zufall, T. et al. Nature 405, 792–796 (2000).
Sam, M. et al. Nature 412, 142 (2001).
Jemiolo, B., Andreolini, F., Xie, T.M., Wiesler, D. & Novotny, M. Physiol. Behav. 46, 293–298 (1989).
Rodriguez, I., Mok, M., Greer, C. & Mombaerts, P. Nat. Genet. 25, 18–19 (2000).
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Supplementary information
41593_2002_BFnn978_MOESM1_ESM.pdf
Supplementary Fig. 1. (a, b) Visualization of neurons expressing the v1rb2 locus but not the V1rb2 receptor (DV line). Scale bar, 5 μm. (PDF 2562 kb)
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boschat, C., Pélofi, C., Randin, O. et al. Pheromone detection mediated by a V1r vomeronasal receptor. Nat Neurosci 5, 1261–1262 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn978
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn978
This article is cited by
-
Expanded olfactory system in ray-finned fishes capable of terrestrial exploration
BMC Biology (2023)
-
Hemoglobin in the blood acts as a chemosensory signal via the mouse vomeronasal system
Nature Communications (2022)
-
Coding of pheromones by vomeronasal receptors
Cell and Tissue Research (2021)
-
Neural pathways of olfactory kin imprinting and kin recognition in zebrafish
Cell and Tissue Research (2021)
-
Distinct evolutionary trajectories of V1R clades across mouse species
BMC Evolutionary Biology (2020)