Molecular vibration-sensing component in Drosophila melanogaster olfaction
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Franco-2011-Mar-Molecular vibration-.pdf
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Author(s)
Mershin, Andreas
Turina, Luca
Franco, Maria Isabel
Skoulakis, Efthimios M. C.
Date Issued
January 2011
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences
Citation
Franco, M. I. et al. “Molecular vibration-sensing component in Drosophila melanogaster olfaction.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 108 (2011): 3797-3802. Web. 19 Oct. 2011. © 2011 by the National Academy of Sciences
Version
Final published version
Abstract
A common explanation of molecular recognition by the olfactory system posits that receptors recognize the structure or shape of the odorant molecule. We performed a rigorous test of shape recognition by replacing hydrogen with deuterium in odorants and asking whether Drosophila melanogaster can distinguish these identically shaped isotopes. We report that flies not only differentiate between isotopic odorants, but can be conditioned to selectively avoid the common or the deuterated isotope. Furthermore, flies trained to discriminate against the normal or deuterated isotopes of a compound, selectively avoid the corresponding isotope of a different odorant. Finally, flies trained to avoid a deuterated compound exhibit selective aversion to an unrelated molecule with a vibrational mode in the energy range of the carbon–deuterium stretch. These findings are inconsistent with a shape-only model for smell, and instead support the existence of a molecular vibration-sensing component to olfactory reception.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Center for Biomedical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Media Laboratory
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1012293108
