A 3D Transcriptomics Atlas of the Mouse Nose Sheds Light on the Anatomical Logic of Smell

Overview

Journal Cell Rep

Publisher Cell Press

Specialties Biology
Cell Biology
Molecular Biology

Date 2022 Mar 23

PMID 35320714

Authors

Mayra L Ruiz Tejada Segura

Eman Abou Moussa

Elisa Garabello

Thiago S Nakahara

Melanie Makhlouf

Lisa S Mathew

Li Wang

Filippo Valle

Susie S Y Huang

Joel D Mainland

Michele Caselle

Matteo Osella

Stephan Lorenz

Johannes Reisert

Darren W Logan

Bettina Malnic

Antonio Scialdone

Luis R Saraiva

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The sense of smell helps us navigate the environment, but its molecular architecture and underlying logic remain understudied. The spatial location of odorant receptor genes (Olfrs) in the nose is thought to be independent of the structural diversity of the odorants they detect. Using spatial transcriptomics, we create a genome-wide 3D atlas of the mouse olfactory mucosa (OM). Topographic maps of genes differentially expressed in space reveal that both Olfrs and non-Olfrs are distributed in a continuous and overlapping fashion over at least five broad zones in the OM. The spatial locations of Olfrs correlate with the mucus solubility of the odorants they recognize, providing direct evidence for the chromatographic theory of olfaction. This resource resolves the molecular architecture of the mouse OM and will inform future studies on mechanisms underlying Olfr gene choice, axonal pathfinding, patterning of the nervous system, and basic logic for the peripheral representation of smell.

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