Olfactory receptors interact with odorant molecules in the nose, to initiate a neuronal response that triggers the perception of a smell. The olfactory receptor proteins are members of a large family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) arising from single coding-exon genes. Olfactory receptors share a 7-transmembrane domain structure with many neurotransmitter and hormone receptors and are responsible for the recognition and G protein-mediated transduction of odorant signals. The olfactory receptor gene family is the largest in the genome. The nomenclature assigned to the olfactory receptor genes and proteins for this organism is independent of other organisms.[6]
OR1A1 is relatively broadly tuned, meaning it responds to a relatively wide variety of different odor molecules.[7][8]
Examples of known ligands, most of which have citrus or fruity smells:[9][10]
^"Human PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^"Mouse PubMed Reference:". National Center for Biotechnology Information, U.S. National Library of Medicine.
^Glusman G, Sosinsky A, Ben-Asher E, Avidan N, Sonkin D, Bahar A, et al. (January 2000). "Sequence, structure, and evolution of a complete human olfactory receptor gene cluster". Genomics. 63 (2): 227–45. doi:10.1006/geno.1999.6030. PMID10673334. S2CID23416814.
^ abcSchmiedeberg K, Shirokova E, Weber HP, Schilling B, Meyerhof W, Krautwurst D (September 2007). "Structural determinants of odorant recognition by the human olfactory receptors OR1A1 and OR1A2". Journal of Structural Biology. 159 (3): 400–12. doi:10.1016/j.jsb.2007.04.013. PMID17601748.
