嗅觉受体与鼻子中的气味分子相互作用，启动一种神经反应，触发嗅觉的感知。嗅受体蛋白是g蛋白偶联受体（gpcr）的一个大家族的成员，由单编码外显子基因产生。嗅觉受体与许多神经递质和激素受体共有7跨膜结构，负责气味信号的识别和G蛋白介导的转导嗅觉受体基因家族是基因组中最大的。这个有机体的嗅觉受体基因和蛋白质的命名独立于其他有机体。[由RefSeq提供，2008年7月]
Olfactory receptors interact with odorant molecules in the nose, to initiate a neuronal response that triggers the perception of a smell. The olfactory receptor proteins are members of a large family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) arising from single coding-exon genes. Olfactory receptors share a 7-transmembrane domain structure with many neurotransmitter and hormone receptors and are responsible for the recognition and G protein-mediated transduction of odorant signals. The olfactory receptor gene family is the largest in the genome. The nomenclature assigned to the olfactory receptor genes and proteins for this organism is independent of other organisms. [provided by RefSeq, Jul 2008]