The broadly tuned odorant receptor OR1A1 is highly selective for 3-methyl-2,4-nonanedione, a key food odorant in aged wines, tea, and other foods.

The broadly tuned odorant receptor OR1A1 is highly selective for 3-methyl-2,4-nonanedione, a key food odorant in aged wines, tea, and other foods. Chem Senses. 2016 Dec 04;: Authors: Geithe C, Noe F, Kreissl J, Krautwurst D Abstract Key food odorants are the most relevant determinants by which we detect, recognize, and hedonically evaluate the aroma of foods and beverages. Odorants are detected by our chemical sense of olfaction, comprising a set of approximately 400 different odorant receptor types. However, the specific receptor activity patterns representing the aroma percepts of foods or beverages, as well as the key food odorant agonist profiles of single-odorant receptors, are largely unknown. We aimed to establish comprehensive key food odorant agonist profiles of 2 unrelated, broadly tuned receptors, OR1A1 and OR2W1, that had been associated thus far with mostly non-key food odorants and shared some of these agonists. By screening both receptors against 190 key food odorants in a cell-based luminescence assay, we identified 14 and 18 new key food odorant agonists for OR1A1 and OR2W1, respectively, with 3-methyl-2,4-nonanedione emerging as the most potent agonist for OR1A1 by 3 orders of magnitude, with a submicromolar half maximal effective concentration. 3-Methyl-2,4-nonanedione has been associated with a prune note in oxidized wine and is an aroma determinant in tea and apricots. Further screening against the entire set of ...
Source: Chemical Senses - Category: Biochemistry Authors: Tags: Chem Senses Source Type: research