Deconstructing Smell and Taste
Summary: Linda Buck is exploring the mechanisms underlying smell, taste, and pheromone sensing in mammals. Her goal is to understand how the nervous system translates thousands of different chemical structures into diverse perceptions and behavioral responses. The Sensing of Odors and Pheromones Much of our research has focused on the mechanisms underlying olfactory perception. In mammals, the olfactory system detects odorants that elicit odor perceptions as well as pheromones that stimulate instinctive behaviors. The prevailing view has been that odorants are detected in the nose, while pheromones are detected primarily in the vomeronasal organ (VNO). Recently, however, we found that some odorants are also detected in the VNO. We have explored these two subsystems by identifying multigene families encoding odor and VNO receptors and then using receptor genes to study how the olfactory system detects different chemicals and how sensory information is organized in the brain to elicit perceptions and behaviors.

Keyword: Chemical Senses (Smell & Taste)
Link ID: 1 - Posted: 10.20.2001