Spatial patterns of odorant receptor expression in the olfactory epithelium

Summary

This paper by Linda B. Buck, published in *Cell* in 1991, presents the central thesis that individual olfactory sensory neurons express only one or a few odorant receptor genes, and that these receptors are organized into distinct spatial zones within the olfactory epithelium. Buck and co-author Richard Axel cloned and characterized a multigene family of G-protein-coupled receptors, demonstrating that different receptor types are expressed in specific, non-overlapping patterns across the epithelium. The main ideas include the discovery that odorant receptors belong to a large gene family (estimated at ~1,000 members in mammals), that each neuron likely expresses a single receptor type, and that the spatial distribution of receptor expression is not random but follows a zonal organization. A reader takes away that the olfactory system uses a combinatorial coding strategy, where individual odorants activate multiple receptor types, and that spatial patterning in the epithelium contributes to odor discrimination.

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Key concepts

• Odorant receptor (OR) gene family — A large multigene family encoding G-protein-coupled receptors that detect volatile odorants, with each receptor tuned to specific molecular features.
• Zonal expression — The spatial segregation of different odorant receptor types into distinct, non-overlapping regions (zones) along the dorsomedial-ventrolateral axis of the olfactory epithelium.
• One neuron–one receptor rule — The principle that each olfactory sensory neuron expresses only a single functional odorant receptor gene, ensuring specificity in odor detection.
• Combinatorial coding — The mechanism by which individual odorants activate a unique combination of multiple receptor types, allowing the system to discriminate a vast array of odors.
• G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) — A class of transmembrane proteins that initiate intracellular signaling cascades upon ligand binding; all odorant receptors belong to this family.
• Olfactory epithelium — The sensory tissue lining the nasal cavity that contains olfactory sensory neurons, supporting cells, and basal cells, where odorant receptor expression is spatially organized.