ISOLATION OF MOUSE VOMERONASAL RECEPTOR GENES AND THEIR COLOCALIZATION WITH SPECIFIC G-PROTEIN MESSENGER-RNAS

Four mouse vomeronasal receptors (mV1Rs) have been isolated by similar ity to rat vomeronasal receptor (V1R) motifs. The four mV1Rs identifie d in this study are members of two distinct subfamilies. Specific in s itu hybridization probes (ISH) derived from the 3' non-coding regions of the mV1R genes, were used to detect expression of a single receptor and probes from the homologous coding regions were used to detect exp ression of subfamily members. The ISH results showed that the mV1Rs ex pressing neurons were scattered in the middle/upper layer of the vomer onasal organ (VNO) sensory epithelium in serial VNO sections but were excluded from the deeper layers of the VNO sensory epithelium and thes e neurons were found to co-express the mRNA for the G-protein G alpha i2, and were distinct from the deeper layers of the VNO sensory epithe lium where the mRNA for Gao positive neurons was located. (C) 1998 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.