OR3A1 and cork taint

Silva Teixeira, Silva Ferreira, and Cerqueira (2016) identify OR3A1 as a putative receptor for some of the molecules that cause cork taint in wine. Here at primaryodors.org, OR3A1 has been assigned the green perceptual note based on it being the only known receptor for trifernal and the pure leafy green aroma of that same compound, […]

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A long way to go

An error was found in the code that was measuring the types and strengths of interactions between odorants and individual binding site residues (BSRs). The gist of the error was that it treated every ligand atom as capable of only van der Waals interactions, the kind that saturated hydrocarbons have, and therefore did not calculate […]

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Predicting odorant activation in receptor pockets

Earlier this year, a paper was published describing the use of machine learning (ML) to predict the activation of a human GPCR in response to ligands, based on computation of ligand binding in docking models. The authors claim up to 90% success rate. All of the human olfactory receptors are GPCRs, and computational prediction of […]

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A test of the perceptual note assignments of olfactory receptors

Three receptors for allyl phenylacetate have been experimentally identified: OR1A1, OR2W1, and OR51L1. Correlation coefficients have made it possible to tentatively assign perceptual notes to these three ORs: herbal for 1A1, fresh/powdery for 2W1, and creamy for 51L1. Allyl phenylacetate itself has a honey type aroma, so it seems plausible that the honey note may […]

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Back on schedule with enhanced predictions

The challenge of writing good molecular docking code has proven immense. Through almost 5 years, each generation of code grew into a huge monster, difficult to maintain, and slow to generate results. This, compounded with the inability to devote suficient time to the endeavor due to unrelated obligations, made the task daunting. It was estimated […]

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Timing of anticipated results

Currently, the intention is to develop receptor-ligand modeling that predicts as closely as possible the experimental OR-odorant data, and then extend this calculation to every combination of OR/TAAR and aroma compound in the database, in order to deorphan all the receptors and assign aroma notes to them based on their computed responses. There are 434 […]

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Quality of source data

Current work for this website includes attempts to correlate A.) simulated binding parameters of odorants in receptor binding pockets to B.) experimental data from the list of references. But how internaly consistent is item B? Do the various sources report compatible information?

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Potential opponent processes in olfaction

It has been proposed that the opponent process model, known to be important to color vision, might also apply to some if not all of the other senses, including olfaction. In the course of formulating my own perfumes, I have gathered a collection of essential oils (EOs), fragrance oils (FOs), and aroma compounds. Through trial […]

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