Cellular-Molecular biosciences of olfaction

Abstract

In 2004, Drs. Richard Axel and Linda Buck received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discoveries of odorant receptors and the organization of the olfactory system. This news not only stimulated the field, but also demonstrated that the research on olfaction has been judged to be a high scientific field. In the field, there are still so many open questions. In this section, we introduce recent achievements of olfactory signal transduction in the sensory cilia, including varieties and characteristics of ion channels, control and modulation of transduction elements, identification and dynamics of second messenger molecules within the single cilium.