Virus-mediated overexpression of vomeronasal receptors and functional assessment by live-cell calcium imaging

Abstract

The mammalian vomeronasal organ (VNO) detects and transduces molecular cues emitted by other individuals that influence social behaviors such as mating and aggression. The detection of these chemosignals involves recognition of specific ligands by dedicated G protein-coupled receptors. Here, we describe recent methodological advances using a herpes virus-based amplicon delivery system to overexpress vomeronasal receptor genes in native, dissociated VNO neurons and to characterize corresponding cell responses to potential ligands through Ca 2+ imaging. This methodology enables us to analyze the response patterns of single vomeronasal receptors to a large number of chemosensory stimuli.