Single-cell RNA sequencing of mouse olfactory sensory neurons

The goal of this study was to identify those odorant receptors conferring a response to indole or related odorants (2-methylindole, 3-methylindole, 6-methylindole, 2-methoxynaphthalene, and Lilyflore®) in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Odorants were sequentially delivered to dissociated OSNs, and six OSNs with three different response profiles were isolated for transcriptome analysis. OSN1 and OSN2 responded to indole, 2-methylindole, 3-methylindole, and 6-methylindole; OSN3 and OSN4 responded to Indole and 2-methoxynaphthalene; OSN5 and OSN6 responded to indole, 3-methylindole, 6-methylindole, and 2-methoxynaphthalene. RNA transcripts encoding Olfr740 (OSN1, OSN2), Olfr741 (OSN3, OSN4), and Olfr743 (OSN5, OSN6) were retrieved, with high level expression of a single OR transcript in each OSN. The expression of mature OSN markers OMP, Golf, Adcy3, Cnga2 and Rtp1 was also confirmed. Individual olfactory sensory neuron mRNA profiles of 6 week old wild type (C57BL/6) mice were generated by single-cell RNA-Seq via the Cel-Seq2 method and sequenced on the Illumina NovaSeq 6000.