Expression of type 1 vomeronasal receptors in the olfactory organ of the African lungfish, Protopterus dolloi

The vomeronasal organ is an olfactory organ found in amphibians and higher vertebrates. Type 1 vomeronasal receptors, one of the major olfactory receptors in vertebrates, are expressed in the vomeronasal organ in mammals. In amphibians and fish, they are expressed in the olfactory epithelium. The lungfish, which is the species of fish most closely related to amphibians, has a primitive vomeronasal organ: the recess epithelium. Expression of type 1 vomeronasal receptors has been reported in both the olfactory epithelium and the recess epithelium in three species of African lungfish and one species of South American lungfish. However, a previous study suggested that in the African lungfish Protopterus dolloi these receptors are expressed only in the olfactory epithelium. In this study, we identified 21 type 1 vomeronasal receptor genes in P. dolloi and examined the expression sites in the olfactory organ. In P. dolloi, most cells expressing the type 1 vomeronasal receptor were distributed in the olfactory epithelium, but a few were also found in the recess epithelium. This implies that the functions of the olfactory epithelium and the primitive vomeronasal organ are incompletely separated, and that all extant African and South American lungfish share this trait.