Vomeronasal 1 Receptor 3 (VN1R3)

Pheromones elicit specific behavioral responses and physiologic alterations in recipients of the same species. In mammals, these chemical signals are recognized within the nasal cavity by sensory neurons that express pheromone receptors. In rodents, these receptors are thought to be represented by 2 large multigene families, comprising the V1r and V2r genes, which encode 7-transmembrane proteins. Vomeronasal type-1 receptor 3 belongs to the G-protein coupled receptor 1 family. There seems to be a deletion in the gene coding for this protein in about 98% of the population. VN1R3 is a protein similar to pheromone receptors and is primarily localized to the olfactory mucosa. An alternate splice variant of this gene is thought to exist, but its full length nature has not been determined.