Evolution and origin of vomeronasal-type odorant receptor gene repertoire in fishes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

In teleost fishes that lack a vomeronasal organ, both main odorant receptors (ORs) and vomeronasal receptors family 2 (V2Rs) are expressed in the olfactory epithelium, and used for perception of water-soluble chemicals. In zebrafish, it is known that both ORs and V2Rs formed multigene families of about a hundred copies. Whereas the contribution of V2Rs in zebrafish to olfaction has been found to be substantially large, the composition and structure of the V2R gene family in other fishes are poorly known, compared with the OR gene family.

Results

To understand the evolutionary dynamics of V2R genes in fishes, V2R sequences in zebrafish, medaka, fugu, and spotted green pufferfish were identified from their draft genome sequences. There were remarkable differences in

SUBMITTER: Hashiguchi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1601972 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature