VATIS UPDATE Article

Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute (WTSI), the United Kingdom, and their collaborators have shown that receptors in the noses of mice exposed to certain smells during life are different to genetically similar mice that lived without those smells. This combination of genetics and experience gives each individual a unique sense of smell. To investigate the sense of smell the researchers used laboratory mice as a model, comparing the olfactory neurons from genetically identical animals that grew up in different environments.

They also compared animals that grew up in the same environment but were genetically different. The team used RNA sequencing to see which receptor genes were active. The researchers found that genetics controlled which receptors were present in the mice. Crucially however, they found that the environment that the individual had lived in had a significant effect on the number of cells able to identify each smell.

Olfactory neurons are formed throughout an individual’s lifetime, and the study showed the olfactory system adapted to the environment, leading to more cells capable of detecting scents to which there has been greater exposure. As a consequence, different individuals, even if genetically similar, may have completely different olfactory abilities. This could contribute to the individuality of the sense of smell, even in humans.