Datensatz

Zusammenfassung

Caenorhabditis elegans uses a small number of sensory neurons to respond to a wide variety of odors. The identities of the odor receptors and the stimuli to which they respond are largely unknown. We are working toward localizing odor receptors and pairing them with the odors they sense, with a focus on AWC-expressed receptors. We are localizing candidate odor receptor proteins using traditional and signal-enhanced translational GFP reporters. We are also generating novel odor receptor gene knockouts using CRISPR, which we are testing in chemotaxis assays for odor response behavior. By helping to illuminate the organization and function of olfactory receptors, we hope to enrich our understanding of the C. elegans olfactory system, and the strategies it uses to interpret information.