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Olfaction written in bone: Cribriform plate size parallels olfactory receptor gene repertoires in Mammalia Project ID: 00000C415 Public
68 Media · 25 Specimens · Managed by: Deborah Bird

The evolution of mammalian olfaction is manifested in a remarkable diversity of gene repertoires, neuroanatomy, and skull morphology across living species. Olfactory receptor genes (ORG), which initiate the conversion of odorant molecules into odor perceptions and help an animal resolve the olfactory world, range in number from a mere handful to several thousand genes across species. Within the snout, each of these ORGs is exclusively expressed by a discrete population of olfactory sensory neurons (OSN), suggesting that newly evolved ORGs may be coupled with new OSN populations in the nasal epithelium. Because OSNs axon bundles leave high-fidelity perforations (foramina) in the bone as they traverse the cribriform plate (CP) to reach the brain, we predicted that taxa with larger ORG repertoires would have proportionately expanded footprints in the CP foramina. We report here a striking linear correlation between relative CP area and number of functional ORGs across species from all mammalian superorders. This correlation suggests strong developmental links in the olfactory pathway between genes, neurons, and skull morphology. Furthermore, because ORG number is known to be linked to olfactory discriminatory function, the correlation found here supports relative CP size as a viable metric for inferring olfactory capacity across modern and extinct species.

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  ID Part Object Taxonomy Type Date Added Publication Status  
000048740 Cranium LACM:Mammals:8157 Tupaia belangeri Image 2018-05-17 Open Download  
000048723 Cribriform Plate LACM:Mammals:8157 Tupaia belangeri Image 2018-05-17 Open Download  
000045576 Cribiform Plate MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:179796 Sorex araneus Image 2018-04-16 Restricted Download  
000045562 Cribiform Plate UCLA:Mammals:6994 Rattus norvegicus Image 2018-04-16 Open Download  
000045560 Cranium MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:116834 Pteropus vampyrus malaccensis Image 2018-04-16 Restricted Download  
000045551 Cribiform Plate UCLA:Mammals:9452 Rattus norvegicus Image 2018-04-13 Open Download  
000045549 Cribiform Plate MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:42613 Ochotona princeps princeps Image 2018-04-13 Restricted Download  
000045547 Cribiform Plate MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:116834 Pteropus vampyrus malaccensis Image 2018-04-13 Restricted Download  
000045545 Cranium UCLA:Mammals:17230 Ochotona princeps cuppes Image 2018-04-13 Open Download  
000045543 Cribiform Plate UCLA:Mammals:17230 Ochotona princeps cuppes Image 2018-04-13 Open Download  
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