Putative Drosophila pheromone-binding proteins expressed in a subregion of the olfactory system

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 269; no. 23; pp. 16340 - 16347
• Main Authors: McKenna, M P, Hekmat-Scafe, D S, Gaines, P, Carlson, J R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 10.06.1994
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; arn mensajero; arn messager; Base Sequence; Binding and carrier proteins; binding proteins; Biochemistry. Physiology. Immunology; Biological and medical sciences; Carrier Proteins - genetics; Chemoreceptor Cells - physiology; Chromosome Mapping; Cloning, Molecular; Drosophila melanogaster; Drosophila melanogaster - genetics; Drosophila Proteins; expresion genica; expression des genes; feromonas; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; gene; gene expression; genes; Genes, Insect - genetics; Genetic Linkage; In Situ Hybridization; Insecta; Invertebrates; messenger rna; Molecular Sequence Data; nucleotide sequence; olfactory organs; organe des sens; organe olfactif; organos del olfato; organos sensoriales; pheromone; pheromones; Pheromones - metabolism; Physiology. Development; proteinas aglutinantes; proteine de liaison; Proteins; secuencia nucleica; sense organs; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; sequence nucleique; Smell - genetics; Tissue Distribution; Molecular hybridization; Insecta; In situ; Pheromone; Structure function relationship; Drosophilidae; Binding protein; Gene; Arthropoda; Invertebrata; Drosophila melanogaster; Diptera; Comparative study; Aminoacid sequence; Olfactory gland
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1016/s0021-9258(17)34013-9

Four genes expressed in the olfactory system of Drosophila melanogaster have been identified by subtractive hybridization. Two of these genes, OS-E and OS-F, are related to genes encoding moth pheromone-binding proteins. The OS-E and OS-F genes are tightly linked and are expressed in a subregion of the antenna (the primary olfactory organ). A protein sequence analysis suggests the possibility that pheromone-binding proteins are members of a larger class of proteins, extending beyond the olfactory system. The predicted product of a third gene, OS-D, shares features common to vertebrate odorant-binding proteins, but has a primary structure unlike odorant-binding proteins. The fourth gene, OS-C, encodes a novel 13-kDa protein that contains a putative nuclear import sequence and an acid-rich region. The expression patterns of these genes differ within the antenna; their transcript distributions support the notion of specialized roles for different olfactory sensilla. The functions of the OS gene products have not been demonstrated; however, the potential identification of pheromone-binding proteins in Drosophila, a species with well characterized genetics, may offer a means of analyzing the function of these molecules that is not available in other systems.