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Updated: May 23, 2026

Live-cell Measurement of Odorant Receptor Activation Using a Real-time cAMP Assay
Published on: October 2, 2017
A broadly tuned mouse odorant receptor that detects nitrotoluenes
Jingyi Li1, Rafi Haddad, Sisi Chen
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida 33101, USA.
Mouse odorant receptor MOR256-17 shows broad tuning, responding to diverse odorant structures. This broad sensitivity, unlike its subfamily members, suggests potential applications in detecting explosives like trinitrotoluene.
Area of Science:
- Olfactory receptor research
- Chemical sensing technology
- Mammalian sensory systems
Background:
- Mammals utilize numerous odorant receptors (ORs) to detect environmental volatile chemicals.
- ORs exhibit varying specificity and breadth of tuning, from narrow to broad responses to odorant structures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the tuning characteristics of the mouse odorant receptor MOR256-17.
- To compare the tuning breadth of MOR256-17 with other members of the MOR256 subfamily.
Main Methods:
- Detailed examination of the mouse odorant receptor MOR256-17.
- Comparative analysis of MOR256-17, MOR256-8, and MOR256-22 subfamily members' responses to odorant structures.
Main Results:
- MOR256-17 demonstrates broad tuning, responding to a wide range of odorant structures across a significant portion of the odor space.
- MOR256-8 and MOR256-22 exhibit narrow tuning, responding to limited sets of odorant structures.
- MOR256-17's receptive range includes various nitrotoluenes, such as trinitrotoluene (TNT) and its related compounds.
Conclusions:
- Broad tuning is not a universal characteristic of the MOR256 subfamily.
- The broad sensitivity of MOR256-17 to nitrotoluenes suggests potential applications in developing sensors for explosives detection.
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