The olfactory receptors of terrestrial animals exist in an aqueous environment, yet detect odorants that are primarily hydrophobic. The aqueous solubility of hydrophobic odorants is thought to be greatly enhanced via odorant binding proteins which ex ...
The olfactory receptors of terrestrial animals exist in an aqueous environment, yet detect odorants that are primarily hydrophobic. The aqueous solubility of hydrophobic odorants is thought to be greatly enhanced via odorant binding proteins which exist in the extracellular fluid surrounding the odorant receptors [1]. This family is composed of pheromone binding proteins (PBP), which are male-specific and associate with pheromone-sensitive neurons and general-odorant binding proteins (GOBP).
