Random expression of main and vomeronasal olfactory receptor genes in immature and mature olfactory epithelia of Fugu rubripes

Main olfactory receptor genes were isolated from a seawater fish, Fugu rubripes (puffer-fish), and characterized. Two subfamilies of genes encoding seven transmembrane receptors were identified; one consists of five or more members, termed FOR1-1 to 5 of FOR1 subfamily, and the other appears to be a single copy gene, termed the FOR2 subfamily. FOR1 members show extremely high amino acid sequence similarities of about 95% to one another, and are distantly related to catfish-1 with the highest similarity of 37%. FOR2 shows 43% similarity to goldfish-A28. Phylogenically, both FOR members are categorized among pedigrees of the fish main olfactory receptor family outside the mammalian receptor family, although similarities between Fugu receptors and those of fresh-water fishes are lower than those among fresh-water fishes. In situ hybridization shows that both subfamilies of receptor genes are expressed randomly over the olfactory epithelium throughout all developmental stages, and no segregation of the signals was found. On the other hand, when three members of a vomeronasal olfactory receptor gene family, related to the Ca2+-sensing receptor, were used as probes, they were also randomly expressed over the same epithelium as the main olfactory receptors. This is in contrast to the expression profiles observed for zebrafish and goldfish, where the main or vomeronasal olfactory receptors are expressed in segregated patterns. It is thus suggested that the expression pattern of fish olfactory receptors varies depending on the species, although fish olfactory receptors are highly related to one another in their primary structures, and are phylogenically distinct from those of mammals.