The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004

 

Species differences

The area of the olfactory epithelium (red) in dogs is some forty times larger than in humans. Mice – the species Axel and Buck studied – have about one thousand different odorant receptor types.

Humans have a smaller number than mice; some of the genes have been lost during evolution. There are several millions of olfactory receptor cells in our olfactory epithelium.

species

Contents:

| The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2004 | The olfactory system | A large family of odorant receptors | A large gene family | The organization of odorant receptor inputs in the olfactory cortex | Combinatorial receptor codes | Species differences | Credits |

Nobel Poster from the Nobel Committee for Physiology or Medicine, web adapted by Nobel Web

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