| Summary |
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. This family member represents a polymorphic pseudogene, whereby some individuals have a functional allele that encodes a full-length protein, while others have a non-functional allele due to the presence of an early stop codon and a 3' end deletion. [provided by RefSeq, Feb 2014] |