Team:TU-Delft

G-protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) form a remarkable modular system that allows transmission of a wide variety of signals over the cell membrane, between cells and over long distances in the human body. The GPCRs mediate a flow of information that tells the inside of cells about the conditions on their outside, which includes signals from neurotransmitters (such as adrenaline and dopamine), hormones (such as follicle stimulating hormone, which helps control ovulation), and even light in our eyes and smell molecules in our noses, thus acting as both the gatekeepers and molecular messengers of the cell.

There are around 800 known human GPCRs, of which about half are the olfactory receptors that allow us to distinguish thousands of different aromas. This basic molecular mechanism of olfactory receptor activation is conserved evolutionarily from yeast to humans.Drawing inspiration from the sniffer rats which can be trained to sniff out unexploded landmines and tuberculosis, as part of this year’s iGEM competition we are aiming to use this molecular mechanism to develop a universal olfactory system for the purpose of characterization of volatile compounds, by introducing olfactory receptor gene fusions into Saccharomyces cerevisiae and linking these receptors to a transcription response.