Chemosensory Systems in Mammals, Fishes, and Insects

About this book

The sense of smell has varied roles in locating food, detecting predators, navigating, and communicating social information, whereas the taste system is focused on decision-making in food intake. The last decade has witnessed massive advances in understanding the molecular logic of chemosensory information processing, and the results for taste sensation were found to differ in interesting ways from those for smell sensation.

The 12 chapters of this book cover the current knowledge about the chemosensory systems in mammalian, fish and insect models. The advantages of the different model systems are emphasized. The genomic characteristics and evolution of olfactory and gustatory receptor gene families are analyzed, rules for odorant receptor gene choice and axonal projection of the corresponding receptor neurons are discussed, and the similarities and dissimilarities of pheromone vs. odorant sensing are examined as well as the molecular logic of mammalian sweet taste, bitter taste, and fat perception. Olfactory-guided and taste-guided behaviors are discussed, with a particular emphasis on the insect system.

Contents

Extraordinary diversity of chemosensory receptor gene repertoires among vertebrates.- Genomics of Olfactory Receptors.- The molecular evolution of teleost olfactory receptor gene families.- Odorant Receptor Gene Choice and Axonal Projection in the Mouse Olfactory System.- Pheromone sensing in mice.- Molecular Genetic Dissection of the Zebrafish Olfactory System.- Insect olfaction: receptors, signal transduction, and behavior.- Smelling, Tasting, Learning: Drosophila as a Study Case.- The receptor basis of sweet taste in mammals.- Mammalian bitter taste perception.- Orosensory perception of dietary lipids in mammals.- Gustation in Fish: Search for Prototype of Taste Perception.-

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