MOLECULAR-CLONING AND CHROMOSOMAL MAPPING OF OLFACTORY RECEPTOR GENESEXPRESSED IN THE MALE GERM-LINE - EVIDENCE FOR THEIR WIDE DISTRIBUTION IN THE HUMAN GENOME

Olfactory receptor genes constitute the largest family of G protein-co upled receptors, We have previously shown that members of this family are expressed during spermatogenesis, and that the corresponding prote ins are displayed on mature sperm cells. In each mammalian species, a restricted subset of olfactory receptors is expressed in male germ cel ls and displays a pattern of expression suggestive of their potential implication:in the control of sperm physiology. In addition to the cDN A fragments available previously, we now report the molecular cloning of two olfactory receptor cDNAs from a human testis library. Five olfa ctory receptor genes expressed in germ cells were localized in the hum an genome by radiation hybrid mapping. Three of the genes map to the s hort arm of chromosome 19 (19p13.1-19p31.3), one to chromosome 11 (11q 22.1-22.3), and one to chromosome 17 (17q21-22), The former two locali zations fall within clusters previously identified for members of the putative olfactory receptor gene family expressed in olfactory muco:sa . Similarly, sequence analysis has revealed that these testicular gene s share no distinctive structural features from the other, non-testicu lar, members of the family. The expression of a subset of olfactory re ceptor genes in the male germ line is therefore not correlated to thei r belonging to a specific structural subgroup, or to a specific gene c luster or chromosomal segment. (C) 1997 Academic Press.