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Updated: May 24, 2026

In-depth Physiological Analysis of Defined Cell Populations in Acute Tissue Slices of the Mouse Vomeronasal Organ
Published on: September 10, 2016
Structure and function analyses of the purified GPCR human vomeronasal type 1 receptor 1
Karolina Corin1, Philipp Baaske, Sandra Geissler
1Center for Biomedical Engineering, NE47-379, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA.
Abstract:
The vomeronasal system is one of several fine-tuned scent-detecting signaling systems in mammals. However, despite significant efforts, how these receptors detect scent remains an enigma. One reason is the lack of sufficient purified receptors to perform detailed biochemical, biophysical and structural analyses. Here we report the ability to express and purify milligrams of purified, functional human vomeronasal receptor hVN1R1. Circular dichroism showed that purified hVN1R1 had an alpha-helical structure, similar to that of other GPCRs. Microscale thermophoresis showed that hVN1R1 bound its known ligand myrtenal with an EC(50) approximately 1 µM. This expression system can enable structural and functional analyses towards understanding how mammalian scent detection works.
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