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Science 17 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5840, pp. 953 - 957
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144233
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Reports

Detection of Near-Atmospheric Concentrations of CO2 by an Olfactory Subsystem in the Mouse

Ji Hu,1,2* Chun Zhong,1,2* Cheng Ding,1 Qiuyi Chi,3 Andreas Walz,4 Peter Mombaerts,4 Hiroaki Matsunami,3 Minmin Luo1{dagger}

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important environmental cue for many organisms but is odorless to humans. It remains unclear whether the mammalian olfactory system can detect CO2 at concentrations around the average atmospheric level (0.038%). We demonstrated the expression of carbonic anhydrase type II (CAII), an enzyme that catabolizes CO2, in a subset of mouse olfactory neurons that express guanylyl cyclase D (GC-D+ neurons) and project axons to necklace glomeruli in the olfactory bulb. Exposure to CO2 activated these GC-D+ neurons, and exposure of a mouse to CO2 activated bulbar neurons associated with necklace glomeruli. Behavioral tests revealed CO2 detection thresholds of ~0.066%, and this sensitive CO2 detection required CAII activity. We conclude that mice detect CO2 at near-atmospheric concentrations through the olfactory subsystem of GC-D+ neurons.

1 National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing, 102206, China.
2 Institute of Biophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
3 Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
4 The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: luominmin{at}nibs.ac.cn

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