Implications for human odor sensing revealed from the statistics of odorant-receptor interactions

PLoS Computational Biology
Ji Hyun BakChangbong Hyeon

Abstract

Binding of odorants to olfactory receptors (ORs) elicits downstream chemical and neural signals, which are further processed to odor perception in the brain. Recently, Mainland and colleagues have measured more than 500 pairs of odorant-OR interaction by a high-throughput screening assay method, opening a new avenue to understanding the principles of human odor coding. Here, using a recently developed minimal model for OR activation kinetics, we characterize the statistics of OR activation by odorants in terms of three empirical parameters: the half-maximum effective concentration EC50, the efficacy, and the basal activity. While the data size of odorants is still limited, the statistics offer meaningful information on the breadth and optimality of the tuning of human ORs to odorants, and allow us to relate the three parameters with the microscopic rate constants and binding affinities that define the OR activation kinetics. Despite the stochastic nature of the response expected at individual OR-odorant level, we assess that the confluence of signals in a neuron released from the multitude of ORs is effectively free of noise and deterministic with respect to changes in odorant concentration. Thus, setting a threshold to the fra...Continue Reading

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Citations

Jul 3, 2020·The Journal of Chemical Physics·David M LeitnerKorey M Reid
Feb 2, 2021·Frontiers in Nutrition·Mariana MuelbertChris Pook
Feb 20, 2021·Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition·Rifat Nowshin RakaJianming Jin

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