Formyl peptide receptor-like receptors: an olfactory tool to identify pathogens?

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Marc Spehr
• Mitantragsteller: Professor Dr. Ivan Rodriguez
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Entwicklungsneurobiologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2010 bis 2015
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 182375655

Most mammals rely heavily on conspecific chemical communication mechanisms to interact adequately with each other. They utilize different types of seven-transmembrane G protein–coupled receptors to identify both general odorants and pheromones. Using a mouse model, we recently discovered that members of the formyl peptide receptor (FPR) family are exclusively expressed in sensory neurons of the vomeronasal organ. We identified agonists for these receptors, and observed that most of these FPR ligands are linked to pathogens and / or pathogenic states. Moreover, we demonstrated that subpopulations of vomeronasal neurons do respond to these agonists. Based on these exciting findings, we propose here to investigate a) the in vivo agonist response profile of genetically engineered vomeronasal sensory neurons expressing a defined FPR receptor, b) the transduction cascade triggered downstream FPR activation, and c) the functional role of the vomeronasal system in the discrimination of unhealthy individuals in mice.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen
• Internationaler Bezug: Schweiz
• Großgeräte: laser uncaging system
• Gerätegruppe: 5080 Optisches Mikroskopzubehör