Genomic variation in the vomeronasal receptor gene repertoires of inbred mice.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Vomeronasal receptors (VRs), expressed in sensory neurons of the vomeronasal organ, are thought to bind pheromones and mediate innate behaviours. The mouse reference genome has over 360 functional VRs arranged in highly homologous clusters, but the vast majority are of unknown function. Differences in these receptors within and between closely related species of mice are likely to underpin a range of behavioural responses. To investigate these differences, we interrogated the VR gene repertoire from 17 inbred strains of mice using massively parallel sequencing.

Results

Approximately half of the 6222 VR genes that we investigated could be successfully resolved, and those that were unambiguously mapped resulted in an extremely accurate dataset. Collectively VRs have

SUBMITTER: Wynn EH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3460788 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature