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An Olfactory Receptor Pseudogene whose Function emerged in Humans

Peter Lai¹, Gautam Bahl², Maryse Gremigni³, Valery Matarazzo³, Olivier Clot-Faybesse⁴, Catherine Ronin³, & Chiquito J. Crasto⁵

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1. Bard College at Simon’s Rock, Massachusetts, USA
2. Wayne State University/ Detroit Medical Center, Michigan, USA
3. Université de Provence, Marseille, France
4. Inra, Dijon, France
5. University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA

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Document Type:

Manuscript

Date:

Received 02 November 2007 21:20 UTC; Posted 05 November 2007

Subjects:

Biotechnology, Neuroscience, Bioinformatics

Tags:

• olfactory receptors
• functional pseudogene
• computational modeling
• docking

Abstract:

Human olfactory receptor, hOR17-210, is identified as a pseudogene in the human genome. Experimental data has shown however, that the gene product of cloned hOR17-210 cDNA was able to bind an odorant-binding protein and is narrowly tuned for excitation by cyclic ketones. Supported by experimental results, we used the bioinformatics methods of sequence analysis, computational protein modeling and docking, to show that functionality in this receptor is retained due to sequence-structure features not previously observed in mammalian ORs. This receptor does not possess the first two transmembrane helical domains (of seven typically seen in GPCRs). It however, possesses an additional TM that has not been observed in other human olfactory receptors. By incorporating these novel structural features, we created two putative models for this receptor. We also docked odor ligands that were experimentally shown to bind hOR17-210 model. We show how and why structural modifications of OR17-210 do not hinder this receptor’s functionality. Our studies reveal that novel gene rearrangement that result in sequence and structural diversity in has a bearing on OR and GPCR function and evolution.

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This document is licensed to the public under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License

How to cite this document:

Lai, Peter, Bahl, Gautam, Gremigni, Maryse, Matarazzo, Valery , Clot-Faybesse, Olivier, Ronin, Catherine, and Crasto, Chiquito. An Olfactory Receptor Pseudogene whose Function emerged in Humans. Available from Nature Precedings <http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/npre.2007.1290.1> (2007)

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