Tuyển tập các báo cáo nghiên cứu về y học được đăng trên tạp chí y học Critical Care giúp cho các bạn có thêm kiến thức về ngành y học đề tài: Nose thyself: individuality in the human olfactory genome. | Minireview Nose thyself individuality in the human olfactory genome Xiaohong Zhang and Stuart Firestein Address Department of Biological Sciences Columbia University Amsterdam Avenue New York NY 10027 USA. Correspondence Stuart Firestein. Email sjf24@ Published 26 November 2007 Genome Biology 2007 8 230 doi gb-2007-8-ll-230 The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at http 2007 8 ll 230 2007 BioMed Central Ltd Abstract A recent study using cell-based assays together with an olfactory psychophysical survey in humans has established a link between a genetic polymorphism in an odorant receptor and variability in perception of the smell of the steroid androstenone. Different people have different noses. Not just on the outside it turns out but inside as well. Indeed there may be more variation in olfactory abilities among humans than in any other sense. We have all had the experience of being in a room where everyone seems to smell some odor good or bad that we simply do not perceive no matter how much we sniff. Detection thresholds - the ability to detect a given odor at a particular concentration - vary over several orders of magnitude of concentration in different people. There are also many cases of selective anosmia the inability to detect a particular odor in the human and mouse population and many of these seem to sort along genetic lines. One of the best known is a selective anosmia to isovaleric acid. This is socially important because isovaleric acid is the main noxious component of body odor. About 6 of the human population appears to have this anosmia and they tend to self identify 1 . The high level of variation in the sense of smell may be related to the large family of genes that encode the odor receptors. Odor receptors are G-protein-coupled receptors that are expressed in specialized cilia on the tips of olfactory sensory neurons located in a layer of epithelium at the back
