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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  
000044785 Olfactory Region MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:183386 Erinaceus europaeus europaeus Image 2018-03-28 Restricted Download  
000044784 Olfactory Region MVZ:Mamm:MVZ:Mamm:183386 Erinaceus europaeus europaeus Volumetric Image Series 2018-03-28 Restricted Download  
000044783 Cropped Skull LACM:Mammals:58376 Erinaceus europaeus Image 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044781 Olfactory Region LACM:Mammals:58376 Erinaceus europaeus Image 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044782 Cropped Skull LACM:Mammals:58376 Erinaceus europaeus Volumetric Image Series 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044780 Olfactory Region LACM:Mammals:58376 Erinaceus europaeus Volumetric Image Series 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044777 Olfactory Region LACM:Mammals:58375 Erinaceus europaeus Image 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044776 Olfactory Regions LACM:Mammals:58375 Erinaceus europaeus Volumetric Image Series 2018-03-28 Open Download  
000044755 Cropped Olfactory Region LACM:Mammals:46145 Dasypus novemcinctus Image 2018-03-27 Open Download  
000044754 Cropped Olfactory Region LACM:Mammals:46145 Dasypus novemcinctus Volumetric Image Series 2018-03-27 Open Download  
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