Odorants may arouse instinctive behaviours

Mehran Sam, Sadhna Vora, Bettina Malnic, Weidong Ma, Milos V. Novotny and Linda B. Buck ()
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Mehran Sam: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School
Sadhna Vora: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School
Bettina Malnic: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School
Weidong Ma: Institute for Pheromone Research, Indiana University
Milos V. Novotny: Institute for Pheromone Research, Indiana University
Linda B. Buck: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School

Nature, 2001, vol. 412, issue 6843, 142-142

Abstract: Abstract The prevailing view of the mammalian olfactory system is that odorants are detected only in the nasal olfactory epithelium, whereas pheromones are generally detected in the vomeronasal organ1,2,3. Here we show that vomeronasal neurons can actually detect both odorants and pheromones. This suggests that in mammals, as in insects4,5,6, odorous compounds released from plants or other animal species may act as 'semiochemicals' — signalling molecules that elicit stereotyped behaviours that are advantageous to the emitter or to the receiver.

Date: 2001
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DOI: 10.1038/35084137

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